The arrest of Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) founder and former MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav in a 32-year-old case has sparked a huge political storm in Bihar and exposed cracks in the Nitish Kumar led NDA in Bihar. Leaders of two NDA constituents in Bihar, Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular (HAM-S) and Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP),with four MLAs each in the assembly, have criticized the government for arresting Pappu Yadav after he exposed BJP MP and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy for keeping 30 ambulances in his parliamentary constituency unused. Former chief minister and HAM-S leader Jitan Ram Manchi tweeted that the action against a leader, who had been working for people’s welfare day in and day out during the pandemic, was dangerous for humanity. “There should be a judicial inquiry of the case in which Yadav has been arrested,” said Manjhi on Twitter. VIP chief and minister Mukesh Sahni said he had no intention to interfere with the judicial process but this is not the time to settle political scores. All parties should unite and fight the pandemic for saving humanity. Leaders of the Congress and the CPI (ML) have also been unsparing in their criticism over the timing of the arrest and demanded his early release. According to political observers, Pappu Yadav’s arrest will definitely dent the image of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his government.
SWAMY FOR HANDING OVER COVID MANAGEMENT TO GADKARI
The crippling second wave of Covid 19 and the poll defeat in West Bengal have brought the ruling BJP come under severe attack mostly from opposition parties on social media platforms, although the saffron party is trying to counter this. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has intensified his attack on both the government and the BJP. Swamy has now suggested that senior minister Nitin Gadkari should be made incharge of the Covid-19 management, leaving it unsaid that PM Modi has failed. What seems to have angered the BJP the most is Swamy’s suggestion that the party turn its office on the DDU Marg into a hospital. While both Gadkari and Swamy are believed to be close to the powerful RSS, the parivar functionaries don’t agree officially. Sources say the Sangh is upset and uncomfortable over the grim situation in the country.
CONGRESS SETS UP GROUP TO DISSECT ASSEMBLY POLL RESULTS
The Congress Working Committee in a meeting on Monday decided to defer the internal party elections temporarily, citing the Covid pandemic crisis in the country as the reason. According to Congress sources the internal party election will be held in November this year, but it is understood that it will probably be held after the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur in 2022 to prevent infighting between the leaders of the states. The Monday meeting was called by interim party president Sonia Gandhi, to discuss the drubbing faced by the Congress in the assembly polls. The CWC meeting also discussed the Covid situation in the country and the government’s handling of it. The Congress president on Tuesday set up a five-member group headed by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, with Salman Khurshid, Manish Tewari, Vincent H Pala and Jothi Mani as members, to evaluate the party’s performance in the just-concluded assembly polls. The group will submit its report within two weeks. The party has also set up another 13-member task force, chaired by senior party member and former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, for Covid relief work.
RUMOURS OF YEDIYURAPPA EXIT GAIN CURRENCY
Speculation is rife that the BJP is set to replace Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa but the party leadership has ruled out any such plan. The rumours had gained more weightage when State Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and BJP vice-president B Y Vijayendra, son of Yediyurappa, arrived in New Delhi on a special flight on May 7 night and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party’s national general secretary Arun Singh, who is in charge of Karnataka. The state’s advocate-general Prabhuling Navadagi accompanied Bommai. Yediyurappa is arguably the BJP’s tallest leader in Karnataka. But the Lingayat strongman is aging, and at 78 is way past the BJP’s unwritten 75-year-limit rule for leaders to hold constitutional posts. Going by speculation, Bommai and Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan are in line for the CM’s post. During a recent discussion with the RSS leadership, Yediyurappa is learnt to have given two options for his exit: making Narayan the CM with Vijayendra as the deputy chief minister, or making Bommai the CM and giving Vijayendra a prominent party position. Bommai gave a statement saying that “there was no political motive behind the visit to Delhi. During the Covid-19 crisis there is no question of thinking about anything other than the Covid-19 situation.”
NINE-POINT OPPOSITION DEMAND IN LETTER TO MODI
Leader of 12 major opposition parties have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding that the Centre take immediate action to check the spread of Covid in the country. The nine measures they suggested included free vaccines, a stop to the work on the Central Vista project and repeal of farm laws, among others. The leaders also alleged that the government has been consistently ignoring or refusing suggestions from the opposition. Signatories to the letter include Sonia Gandhi (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Mamata Banerjee (TMC), MK Stalin (DMK) Sitaram Yechury (CPM), Hemant Soren (JMM), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), D Raja (CPI), Farooq Abdullah (JKPA) and HD Deve Gowda (JD-S).
Some of the key suggestions in the letter include:
1) Central procurement of vaccines from all available sources – global and domestic.
2) Immediate free universal mass vaccination campaign
3) Compulsory licensing to expand domestic vaccine production
4) Spending the Rs 35,000 crore budgetary allocation for vaccines
5) Stopping the Central Vista construction and using the money for oxygen and vaccines
6) Releasing all money held in the “unaccounted private trust fund”, PMCares to buy vaccines, oxygen and medical equipment
7) Rs 6,000 per month for the unemployed
8) Free distribution of foodgrains to the needy
9) Repeal of farm laws to protect farmers falling victim to Covid. (IPA)
