In a stunning shock for the Congress, as Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost the Rajya Sabha election despite a 43-25 arithmetical supremacy over the BJP. The BJP’s win was a reflection of cross-voting by Congress MLAs and a draw of lots that went in its favour. The rift between supporters of the late leader Virbhadra Singh’s family and those aligned with CM Sukhu has laid bare the internal strife plaguing the party, paving the way for opportunistic manoeuvres by the opposition. Adding to Congress’ woes, Vikramaditya Singh, also announced his resignation from the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu cabinet, but the central leadership managed to pacify him. However, some Congress state leaders are asking: “The growing threat of dissent in Himachal was known to everybody. What was the in-charge (Rajeev Shukla) doing?” Congress had managed the first challenge of passing the budget in the Assembly on Wednesday by suspending 15 BJP MLAs for creating a ruckus. On the other hand, six Congress MLAs were disqualified on February 29 and they cease to be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly with immediate effect. In Shimla, Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Pathania said the six Congress MLAs, including Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Kutlehar MLA Davinder Bhutto, have defied the party whip issued during the Budget session, and hence attracted the provision under the anti-defection law. According to sources, the Congress high command was not happy with Sukhu’s handling of the Rajya Sabha elections and a proposal was floated to replace Sukhu with Mukesh Agnihotri, with Vikramaditya Singh as his deputy.
CPI’S ANNIE RAJA WILL CONTEST RAHUL IN WAYANAD LOK SABHA SEAT
After CPI declaring Annie Raja its candidate from Kerala’s Wayanad, the Congress said it is in alliance with the Left in different states but they have always and will undoubtedly continue to oppose each other electorally in Kerala. While Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the KPCC and United Democratic Front (UDF) allies, including the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), made a strong pitch for Rahul Gandhi’s candidature from Wayanad. Other Pradesh Congress Committees in the South, including Telangana, have invited Rahul Gandhi to contest from their States. The AICC will likely take a final call on the issue. The buzz is that Rahul Gandhi will contest from both seats Amethi and Kerala’s Wayanad.
CONGRESS TO SHORTLIST CANDIDATES FOR3 OF 7 DELHI LOK SABHA SEATS
The Congress will contest the North East Delhi, North West Delhi, and Chandni Chowk seats and party leaders are likely to carry the process to shortlist names for the three Lok Sabha constituencies in days to come. The names are doing round for the Chandni Chowk seat are Alka Lamba and Jai Prakash Aggarwal. While the probable candidates from North West Delhi is former MP Udit Raj. The Congress is taking into consideration of giving the ticket to its Delhi unit president Arvinder Singh Lovely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from the North East Delhi. Meanwhile, the BJP’s Delhi election committee met BJP national president JP Nadda for the discussion regarding the candidature. According to sources, fielding Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar or Dr Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk have been among the suggestive names on the list. For South Delhi, Leader for opposition in Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Brahm Singh Tanwar could be probable candidates.
TWO-TIME BSP MUSLIM MLA SHAH ALAM JOINS SP
Two-time former MLA and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Lucknow in the presence of party president Akhilesh Yadav. Jamali, who carries influence in his home district of Azamgarh, served two terms as an MLA between 2012 and 2022 from the Mubarakpur Assembly seat of the district and polled more than 2.66 lakh votes as a BSP nominee in the 2022 Lok Sabha by-election from the Azamgarh seat. Jamali’s induction is seen as an important step by the SP to empower the prospects of the party in the Azamgarh district where the Muslim community is influential electorally before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the newly inducted leader is likely made a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) by the SP in this month polls for vacant Legislative Council seats. SP has not yet announced any candidate on Azamgarh seat and has made Dharmendra Yadav in-charge of this and Kannauj seat.
RAJYA SABHA POLLS: PALLAVI PATEL VOTES FOR SP
After keeping party leaders on tenterhooks over which side she would vote for, Apna Dal (K) leader and SP MLA Pallavi Patel stood by her party candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls and sharing that her vote was for PDA, and she herself was PDA. The SP has showcased PDA (pichhde, Dalit and alpsankhyak) as its strategic plank for the 2024 LS polls and beyond. Pallavi said she had voted for party candidate Ramji Lal Suman who happens to be a Dalit. The other two candidates in line from SP were Jaya Bachchan and Alok Ranjan, both Kayasthas. Now, it is being speculated that the SP might field Pallavi’s mother and Apna Dal (K) chief Krishna Patel for the UP Legislative Council polls.
RAHUL’S DALIT, OBC OUTREACH BOLSTERS HIS YOUTH CONNECT
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has emphasized prominently the OBC, SCs and STs question on top of the national discourse by maintaining a sharp focus on it in his speech and demanding nationwide caste census to better evaluate the situation of India’s Dalits, OBCs, poor. Rahul tweeted on Sunday: “Were the loans taken by Modi’s friends waived off? Yes. Was the corporate tax lowered to help Modi’s friends? Yes. Did Modi’s friends get cheap land? Yes. Did farmers’ income double? No. Did farmers get loan waiver? No. Modi has betrayed India by framing a crony policy that enabled 1% elite people to capture India’s resources. The Congress is committed to make fair policies for farmers, workers, and the poor standing at the end of the queue.” However, Rahul has established a strong rapport with the youth by forcefully raising issues like unemployment, paper leak, recruitment scams and flawed schemes like Agniveer. He firmly put his faith and is aligned with the farmers by announcing a legal guarantee for MSP (minimum support price). By promising a basic income for everybody, the Congress is set to woo the workers and other categories of the poor in society. The narrative attracted enthusiastic public response in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and to counter-narrative Modi’s guarantee and Hindutva politics of BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. (IPA Service)