BJP’s trouble shooter, active lawyer, politician, cricket administrator, minister and true friend Arun Jaitley died at the age 66 years in AIIMS at 12.07 pm on 24 August. He was admitted in AIIMS on 7 August with the complaint of difficulty in respiration. Jaitley was darling of the media ever since he was an ABVP worker all the way till the end. He was the strongest spokesperson of the party and always at the forefront. He introduced a large number of spokespersons for his party and his official residence on Ashoka Road was the party media room for years and he used to live in Kailash Colony bungalow. He earned a reputation of a leader who always helped BJP to win crucial elections between 2004 and 2014. He was made in-charge of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Karnataka. He was a leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha from 2009 to 2014. He was the most frequent opening batsman for then opposition BJP on all vital debates. He was a good friend of PM Narendra Modi and always defended him since when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, in public as well as in courts. As the Union Finance Minister, when he implemented GST, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. One of his greatest achievements was a democratic working of GST Council, which also included finance ministers from opposition-ruled states. According to opposition leaders, they have lost a good man in public life, a decent human being, a respected and able professional, a witty thinker, a lifelong student of politics, a remarkable communicator, a committed pillar of his pasty and a common close friend of many.
POST MAYAWATI, AKHILESH STITCHES ALLIANCE WITH RAJBHAR
After the Lok Sabha election, Mayawati has broken the alliance with Samajwadi Party in UP, resulting many party leaders and office bearers leaving SP and joining BJP. Now the SP chief, Akhilesh Yadav, is trying to make the alliance with smaller parties to prevent their leaders and workers from leaving the party and boost their sagging morale. On Friday, Akhilesh Yadav met Om Prakash Rajbhar and decided that both parties would be jointly fighting the 13 Assembly by-polls. The meeting was held at the SP office in Lucknow. Rajbhar’s party had fought 12 Lok Sabha seats in eastern UP alone and his party had got 20,000 to 40,000 votes in each constituency. Rajbhar wants his party candidates to contest from Jalalpur, Ghosi and Balha seats of Bahraich district in the upcoming assembly by-polls. In all the three seats, the Rajbhar voters are in large numbers and with the help of Yadavs and Muslims, his candidates are poised to win the elections. In the same way, Akhilesh Yadav will be able to test the alliance power after the by-polls results, as SP would succeed in transferring the Rajbhar votes to his party candidates. If this alliance is successful, then they will let it continue in UP.
BENGAL BY-POLLS: WILL TMC UNITE WITH CONGRESS-LEFT TO STALL BJP?
West Bengal State Congress Chief Soman Mitra has met the Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi and discussed various organisational issues, including the upcoming assembly by-polls in the state. Sonia Gandhi has given her nod to Congress-Left Front alliance in West Bengal for the upcoming assembly by-polls, following the party’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls in the state. According to Congress sources, Sonia Gandhi’s go-ahead to the Congress-Left alliance is politically significant, given TMC’s recent call for uniting of all opposition forces in Bengal in a bid to stop the march of BJP in the state. The state leadership of the two parties have decided that Congress will contest the Kaliaganj seat in North Dinajpur district and Kharagpur in West Midnapore district, while the CPI(M) led Left Front will contest the Karimpur seat in Nadia district.
OPPOSITION BOYCOTT OF TV MEDIA CONTINUES
After the Parliament election, almost all opposition parties have stopped sending their representatives for TV political debates, as according to Congress office bearers, anchors favour the government and fix the political agenda and they do not get a fair hearing. To overcome this handicap, the channels invite participants from sympathisers of different parties. This was also objected by Misa Bharati and RJD has written to the channels that they could not decide who could represent RJD party. At a recent TV talk show, a frequent guest was described as RSS ideologue. The RSS also objected to this and advised the TV anchors that they should be introduced as “political analyst” and not as “RSS ideologue”.
CM YOGI’S UP CABINET REHAULED AFTER DELAY
The announcement of new the Uttar Pradesh cabinet was delayed because the BJP high command had to check Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s list and make changes to ensure caste consideration, regional representation and remove some old ministers whose reports were not good. For example, Rajesh Agarwal was removed on account of reaching 75 years of age, at the same time Udaybhan Singh, just 37 years of age, was made minister. A Khatik, an MLA, was not included because of his age of 74 years. Meerut, Bhagpat and Bareilly were totally ignored and Kapil Dev Aggarwal and Vijay Kashyap were made ministers from Muzaffarnagar. Ashish Patel, husband of Anupriya Patel, was not included in the Cabinet. Former Centre Minister Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal was not included this time to Modi cabinet 2.0. Meanwhile, G S Dharmesh, a Jatav, was made a Minister. There are 15 Jatav MLAs in BJP at present and Ashok Kataria of Gujjar community was also included in the Cabinet. Incidentally, Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh was again omitted from the ministerial list. At present, there are 9 Brahmin ministers and 8 Thakur ministers in the Cabinet of 56 ministers in UP.
RARE BJP-CONGRESS CAMARADERIE IN UTTARAKHAND
At present, in all the states the BJP leaders and Congress leaders are fighting with each other, but in Uttarakhand it is a reverse scenario, where the chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and opposition Congress leader Hira Singh Bisht have a good working relationship as well as political camaraderie. In fact, in Doiwala by-poll of 2014, Bisht had defeated Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. The seat was vacated when Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank resigned from the seat after becoming the MP. But in 2017, Trivendra Singh Rawat had defeated Hira Singh Bisht from the same seat, but these political events did not affect in their relationship. There were five cricket associations in Uttarakhand, and Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat headed one of the associations. Hira Singh Bisht headed the second association. Two of the associations belong to senior BJP leaders but the cricket association headed by Hira Singh Bisht merged with the association of Trivendra Singh Rawat. This resulted in the BCCI giving recognition to this association and de-recognising all the three remaining associations. Hira Singh Bisht belongs to Harish Rawat group in the Congress. (IPA)