In the forthcoming session of parliament which commences from July 22 and scheduled to end on August 12, Congress will put forth its demand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government for the chairmanship of Standing Committee on Finance and Home, as previously under the successive regimes of Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh governments, chairmanship of these two committees was given to the main opposition party. The session will see the government presenting its first full budget after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the economic survey, and potentially a host of crucial legislative business. The two top allies of the BJP — the TDP and the JD(U) — will also be looking forward to the budget in respect to their states’ demands for schemes and funds for development.
SIDDARAMAIAH, DK SHIVAKUMAR TUSSLE OVER KARNATAKA TOP JOB INTENSIFIES
Kumara Chandrashekaranatha Swami, leader of the Vishwa Vokkaligara Mahasamsthana Mutt, has demanded that DK Shivakumar be given a shot at being chief minister, since Siddaramaiah is already in his second stint in the top job. To offset the Swami’s demand, now loyalists of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, from the Congress and the backward-minority communities that have been his mainstay, plan to change his birthday celebrations into a show of power and strength amid a leadership tussle in the party. Siddaramaiah’s loyalists, many of them state ministers, have decided to hold his 77th birthday bash at a grand scale in Hubballi on August 12 to convey a strong message that they would not tolerate any attempt to replace him as the chief minister.
POST CONGRESS COMEBACK, K KESHAVA RAO RESIGNS FROM RAJYA SABHA
After making a comeback to the Congress, senior leader K Keshava Rao resigned from the Rajya Sabha seat which he won on a BRS ticket, adding that according to him, morally and legally it is not right to continue, and his resignation may lead the Congress to nominate someone from Telangana to Rajya Sabha to claim the leader of opposition status in the Upper House. On the other hand, Rao has been appointed as Adviser to the Telangana Government (Public Affairs) with Cabinet status. Keshava Rao was PCC former president in undivided Andhra Pradesh. He in 2006 was for the first time elected to the Rajya Sabha from the Congress. In 2013 he joined the BRS and was elected to Rajya Sabha for a second term in 2014 and again in 2020.
BY-POLLS IN 10 UP ASSEMBLY SEATS SOON AS MLAs ARE NOW LOK SABHA MEMBERS
In the wake of 10 MLAs from Uttar Pradesh winning seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the state is bracing for by-elections. The contest is expected to be another fierce battle between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition INDIA bloc. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress, the key partners in the INDIA bloc, have announced their alliance will continue into the by-polls, with further discussions on seat-sharing which is already in pipeline. As per sources, SP could offer 2 to 3 seats to Congress party and SP will fight on 7 to 8 seats. In soon-to-be-vacant seats, the most prominent is Karhal assembly seat from where the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has resigned as to retain the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. Other vacant seats include Khair (Aligarh), Kundarki (Moradabad), Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj), Ghaziabad (Ghaziabad), Majhawan (Mirzapur), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), and Milkipur (Ayodhya). Meanwhile, out of 10 assembly seats, it’s Ayodhya’s Milkipur assembly seat which will be BJP’s target after suffering defeat in Ayodhya despite the makeover of the city and construction of the Ram temple.
BSP, INLD ALLY FOR HARYANA ASSEMBLY POLLS, ABHAY CHAUTALA CM FACE
Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been unable to win a single seat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, signalling the loss of its core Dalit votes to other parties. Now, BSP has moved into an alliance with Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) for the Haryana assembly elections scheduled to commence later this year, the leaders of the two parties announced on Thursday. The alliance leaders have also decided to highlight INLD leader Abhay Chautala as its chief ministerial face. Under the arrangement, out of 90 assembly seats in Haryana, the BSP will contest 37 seats, leaving the rest for its senior partner in Haryana, where the ruling BJP is eyeing to come to power for third time in a row. Soon after the announcement, Mayawati said in a post on X that the BSP and INLD will work together to defeat anti-people parties and form a new coalition government. The two parties had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls separately in Haryana and fared very poorly. The INLD contested seven seats in the state while the BSP fielded candidates in nine parliamentary constituencies. The INLD’s vote share in Haryana in the general election was 1.74 percent, while the BSP had a vote share of 1.28 percent.
FARMERS’ BODY TO RENEW AGITATION, SUBMIT MEMO TO PM MODI, LOP GANDHI
Farmers’ body Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), which led the 2020-21 protests, has declared that it will resume its agitation over its pending demands, including a legal guarantee to MSP and loan waiver, and submit a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha. The SKM said that the organisation will handover an updated charter of demands to all MPs on August 9 ,the SKM will observe “Quit India Day” as “Corporates Quit India Day ” by holding demonstrations across the country respectively in assembly election bound Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana in support of its charter of demands. (IPA Service)
