The All-India Congress Committee has dissolved the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee following the party’s dismal performance in the State and general elections, Now the next prominent change is to take place in Himachal Pradesh as Congress high command is looking to change the state organization in charge as in the state the party failed to win any of the four seats in the parliamentary elections . Further, despite having numbers to win the Rajya Sabha seat in the state, the Congress lost. According to sources, the Congress high command is upset with Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Shukla who seems to be more interested in Cricket affairs than organizational matters. Recently Rajeev Shukla attended the Anant-Radhika Mangal Utsav function with his family. However Mukesh Ambani had personally invited the Gandhi family to his younger son’s marriage but none of the Gandhi family members attended either the wedding or reception. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has already done the groundwork for the reshuffle and it would be put into effect at an opportune time decided by him.
YSRCP AND BJD TO WORK CLOSELY WITH INDIA BLOC IN PARLIAMENT
YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and BJD have lost the assembly elections in their respective states viz Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Now both parties are showing signs of coming closer to INDIA bloc as this is for the first time, the YSRCP brought up the issue of giving the position of Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker to the INDIA bloc. V Vijay Sai Reddy, the General Secretary of YSRCP and the leader of Rajya Sabha, expressed this demand during an all-party meeting called by the NDA government. Sai also criticised the union budget in the Rajya sabha on Thursday and said that it has nothing for the middle class. Not only the YSRCP, BJD too has shown similar change. On July 24 , when the INDIA bloc stormed out of the Rajya Sabha to protest a discriminatory budget, the BJD also followed suit. However, both parties continue to maintain a distance from the Congress.
S P MAURYA MAY AGAIN COME BACK TO SAMAJWADI PARTY
The grapevine is rife that the former Samajwadi Party veteran Swami Prasad Maurya may return to the Samajwadi Party. After resigning as an MLC from the SP in February, Maurya contested the recently held Lok Sabha elections as an Independent from Kushinagar under the Shoshit Samaj Party banner but he lost it . Maurya, joined the SP before the 2022 Assembly polls after resigning as cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. He alleged injustice to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the saffron camp. Maurya was a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member for decades between 1996-2016 holding key ministries under the Chief Ministership of Mayawati and was leader of the opposition from 2012-2016. Maurya has frequently made the BJP uncomfortable with his Hindutva remarks, and the doors of the BJP are closed and BSP supremo Mayawati is faced with an existential crisis after failing to win a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The SP is his only option.
SONIA GANDHI AND JAYA BACHCHAN ARE SHOWING CLOSENESS AGAIN
A most-talked about friendship between the Gandhis and Bachchans that had turned bitter in the last century may witness a thaw after Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi met Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan as she arrived at the Parliament on Wednesday. They both exchanged salutations amicably and shared smiles before they could move ahead and join the Opposition protest against the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday. TMC MP Derek O’Brien also accompanied them as well. There was a time when the Gandhis and the Bachchan family shared a close friendship, which gradually faded over the years. Evidently it was Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s suggestion that Amitabh Bachchan contested and could win the Lok Sabha election from Allahabad in 1984. However, amidst allegations in the Bofors scandal, Bachchan, then an actor-turned-politician, resigned from his parliamentary seat. Reports indicate that Rajiv Gandhi was deeply disappointed and subsequently stopped communicating with Amitabh Bachchan, which led to a strain in their families’ relationship.
RAHUL GANDHI ASSURES KISAN LEADERS CONGRESS SUPPORT TO DEMANDS
A delegation of farmer leaders from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka interacted with Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi at Parliament House complex on Wednesday and Gandhi told them that INDIA bloc will put pressure on the government on the issue of legal guarantee of MSP. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi claimed that farmer leaders whom he had invited to meet with him were denied entry into the Parliament Complex. It was only after Gandhi intervened and decided to go outside to meet them that the farmer leaders were allowed inside. Meanwhile, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leaders announced their plans to burn effigies of the Union government nationwide and launch a fresh protest to demand the legalization of the MSP guarantee. They also have planned to organise a nationwide tractor rally on August 15, Independence Day.
KAPIL SIBAL FOCUSES ON THE DIVERSITY OF INDIA AT A MEMORIAL MEETING
DMK’s Lok Sabha MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi released the book “Chiram Jeevitham,” on 22 July in honor of M.P. Veerendra Kumar during the 4th Memorial Lecture at Constitution Club of India. The book comprises articles and memorial notes celebrating his remarkable Life. On the other hand, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal criticised the BJP-led government as according to him erasing diversity is an anti-historical move that will cause tensions. Delivering the 4th Memorial Lecture in honour of M P Veerendra Kumar, Sibal talked about the idea of India and its evolution at length. He said, “Why do we talk about the idea of India? It is because most of us do not understand the birth of this great nation. If you ask me, a nation is comprised of so many facets which are embedded in its history. Unless you understand the history of a nation and its genesis over centuries, you will never be able to understand what the nation is all about.” M P Veerendra Kumar, who passed away in May 2020, was an Indian politician, writer, and journalist. He served as a member of the 14th Lok Sabha and was also the chairman and managing director of the Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi. (IPA Service)
Narendra Modi’s Budget ‘Bonanza’ To Bihar Is Of No Use To Poor And Dalits 