Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will launch the election campaign of 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Varanasi with the sole aim of winning the support of people against the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. According to sources, the date will be decided after the Opposition’s INDIA bloc’s meeting. The JD(U) has designated leaders of the party from neighbouring districts of Varanasi to ensure the success of Nitish Kumar’s public meeting. The party is stepping up its bid to project Nitish as a key national face of the Opposition, lining up his countrywide tours involving several states such as Jharkhand, Haryana and Maharashtra. The JD(U) leaders are also likely to hold a meeting with Samajwadi Party chief and ex-CM Akhilesh Yadav soon to discuss the possibility of their alignment and joint meetings in UP. Congress sources said the INDIA allies would reaffirm their unity and discuss an alternative, positive agenda to counter the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. JD (U) leaders in Uttar Pradesh are of the view that CM Nitish Kumar should contest from the Kurmi-dominated seats of Phulpur or Mirzapur in the next year general elections. Nitish hails to the Kurmi OBC community, and the INDIA bloc understandably expect to cash in on this to reach out to the OBCs in UP. However, Kurmis have the potential to determine the electoral outcome in several seats in UP. They are the second most influential OBC segment in the state. On the other hand, Nitish has successfully managed to resurrect his diminishing graph within the Opposition’s INDIA bloc and threatened to deprive the BJP and PM Modi of their OBC vote base. In order to realize Nitish’s aim to pit caste identities to counter the BJP’s election planks of religion and ultra-nationalism, a campaign for special category status will channelise state-related identity and emotions.
POST POLL DEFEAT, RAHUL DOUBLES DOWN ON OBC, CASTE CENSUS AGENDA
After the defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan assembly elections, Rahul Gandhi has stuck to his OBC agenda, arguing that the Narendra Modi government was hell-bent on diverting the people’s attention from the basic issue of caste census. Rahul said: “The Prime Minister is himself an OBC. But that’s not the question. The issue is of bhagidari (representation). What’s the participation of OBCs, Dalits and tribal people in the institutional structures? Who is cornering the wealth? We will ensure that the poor and deprived sections of society get their due.” The Congress does not share the perception that the BJP had addressed the OBC question by making Mohan Yadav the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Shivraj Singh Chouhan too is an OBC and was a far more powerful and entrenched leader than the inexperienced Yadav. The political observer believes that Modi-Shah have carried a huge risk by ignoring renowned leaders just before the parliamentary elections and have led a huge opening for a Congress comeback.
CONGRESS PRESIDENT KHARGE TO PICK NEW CHHATTISGARH STATE UNIT CHIEF
The Congress legislative party in Chhattisgarh unanimously passed a resolution authorising party president Mallikarjun Kharge to decide its leader in the state assembly. All 35 newly-elected MLAs including former chief minister Bhupesh Baghel attended the meeting where the Congress’s in-charge for the state Kumari Selja and treasurer Ajay Maken were also present. The Congress suffered a shock defeat in the Chhattisgarh assembly elections which saw the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) making a stunning comeback to power by bagging 54 of the 90 seats. There are indications that the former Union minister Dr. Charan Das Mahant could emerge as the choice for CLP leader. Since the state Congress party has Deepak Baij, a man from tribal community, as its president, there is a belief that the CLP leader’s post could go to an OBC leader. Meanwhile, a letter written by former legislator Brihaspat Singh, addressed to the state Congress president, surfaced just ahead of the meeting. The tribal leader blamed former deputy chief minister T S Singh Deo and AICC general secretary Kumari Selja for the party’s defeat. Citing Singh Deo’s decision to relinquish the charge of Panchayat and Rural Development Department, he said the open allegation against his own government’s failure to construct seven lakh houses under PMAY scheme gave an opportunity to BJP to corner Congress government.
CONGRESS TORN BETWEEN SOFT HINDUTVA AND SHARP CASTE CENSUS POLITICS
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been demanding nationwide caste census .This aims at better evaluation of the situation of India’s Dalits, OBCs, poor and advocating OBC quota in women reservation. However, the Punjab Congress is playing soft Hindutva and plans to take people by train or bus to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh on Jan 22, 2024, the day the temple of Lord Ram will be inaugurated by PM Modi. But the biggest challenge for the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is to walk a tight rope on the question of Hindu identity politics, and avoid communal polarisation. Meanwhile Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring shared that his party will contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in the border state, as he has received no signal from the high command about fighting the 2024 general elections in any alliance.
AKHILESH PUTS EMPHASIS ON BACKWARD, DALIT, MINORITY PLANK TO REVIVE SP
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav is looking forward to join hands with several smaller parties in Uttar Pradesh to expand his party’s support base. Akhilesh Yadav is emphasizing with full intensity on its PDA (Pichre, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) plank and SP is all set now with focus to woo non-Yadav Other Backward Classes (OBCs), who constitute about 35 per cent of the population. Straightway connecting with the youth of every village and chalking out a strategy for the future. SP has started preparation for Mission 80 in Uttar Pradesh for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, Congress has resolved its differences with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and According to sources indicating Akhilesh presence in the INDIA opposition alliance meeting which will take place in Delhi on December 19. The seat-sharing for the upcoming general elections is going to be on the agenda. (IPA Service)
