RJD and LJP are demanding to postpone the dates of Bihar Assembly election. The RJD, particularly Lalu Prasad’s family, is divided. Lalu could have made the difference but he is still in jail. On the other hand, the Congress leaders of Bihar are busy convincing the high-command to pick former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar as the CM face and to lead the party in the coming assembly election. They believe that the senior Dalit leader, daughter of the late Babu Jagjivan Ram, can give a better fight to Nitish Kumar in comparison to the present RJD leader and Lalu’s son Tejasvi Yadav. Currently, Nitish Kumar’s popularity graph is at an all-time low. The perception in Bihar is that the chief minister has been unresponsive throughout the pandemic. However, if Meira Kumar becomes the CM face, Congress will also get the benefit in neighbouring states, especially in UP and Madhya Pradesh by-elections. On the issue of alliance with RJD, senior Congress leaders are saying that if RJD accepts the proposal to push Meira Kumar as the CM face, then they would contest the polls in alliance with RJD. Else, Congress wants to go its own way. Meanwhile, pollster Prashant Kishor who once showed an interest in his home state, appears now to be waiting for the 2025 elections.
MANY BREAK-UPS OF POLITICAL LOBBYIST PAR EXCELLENCE, AMAR SINGH
Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, who died in a Singapore hospital on August 1 of kidney failure at age 64, made “political fixing” look easy. Singh started off with the student wing of the Congress, but made a big impression after his friendship with Mulayam Singh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh. Amar rose through the ranks to reach the power elite using his networking skills. In fact, it wa sunder Amar Singh’s influence that the Samajwadi Party supremo metamorphosed from a vernacular socialistto a connoisseur of Bollywood glitz, including the proximity of Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Jaya Prada and the later convicted head of the Sahara empire, Subrata Roy. Amar Singh’s clique included Anil Ambani as well. Expectedly, Amar Singh’s influence on Mulayam was frowned upon by others in the party, particularly the old timers, who resented the lobbyist diluting Mulayam’s “samajwad” ways. Amar Singh also got on a wrong foot with Sonia Gandhi, the then Congress chief, after he gate-crashed a top-level dinner to stitch a ruling alliance in 2004, only to be ignored royally by the miffed Gandhi high-command. Yet, Singh was instrumental in helping UPA-1 stay afloat after the Left exited the alliance over the nuclear deal with USA. Though Mulayam remained Singh’s closest political leader, they quarrelled often, Amar Singh was twice expelled from the party. Amar Singh also rued his bitter parting from Amitabh Bachchan, to whom he was extreme close. All in all, Amar Singh’s life was a political-emotional roller-coaster and he zigzagged his way into and out of political echelons, both sought after and driven away.
CONGRESS SEES NEXT GEN RIVALRY, WHILE SCINDIA AWAITS CABINET BERTH
The stars are not favouring either the Congress or the deserter Jyotiraditya Scindia and his followers in Madhya Pradesh. Firstly, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh hogged the politics of MP Congress in such a way that Scindia had to exit the party and join BJP. Now, Jaivardhan Singh, son of Digvijaya Singh, is fighting with Nakul Nath, son of Kamal Nath, for taking up the next generation leadership within the Congress. Additionally, the followers of Jitu Patwari, a minister in Kamal Nath government who’s close to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi, are giving a slogan: “Na Raja, Na Wapari, Abki Bar Jitu Patwari”. The young brigade of Congress is fighting hard and seniors are waiting for the winner to place their bets on. On the other hand, Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had joined the BJP with the hope that he would be soon be inducted in the Modi Cabinet, are neither here nor there. Scindia’s followers were thinking that they would re-enter the assembly soon, but due to the Covid-19 situation, the by-election has been delayed. Moreover, expansion of the Modi Cabinet which was also postponed due to Ram Mandir shilanyas on 5 August, too has eluded Scindia so far. However, there may be a cabinet expansion at the Centre now that the Ram Mandir stone-laying ceremony is over.
RAHUL LOYALISTS BLAME UPA ERA FOR WEAKENING OF CONGRESS PARTY
With Rahul Gandhi loyalists holding UPA responsible for the weakening of the party, Congress functionaries have come out in defence of the 2004-2014 government, calling it “transformative” and alleged a ‘malicious campaign’ by various political parties. In a meeting of Rajya Sabha members chaired by Sonia Gandhi, new MP Rajeev Satav countered a demand by Congress veterans for introspection into the 2019 defeat by blaming the UPA era. Congress MP Manish Tewari called for a settlement of the leadership issue. Senior member Anand Sharma posted an 11-tweet thread to defend the UPA. He wrote: “Congressmen must be proud of UPA’s legacy. No party disowns or discredits its legacy. Nobody expects BJP to be charitable and give us credit but our own should respect and not forget.” Shashi Tharoor said “lessons had to be learned from election defeats but not by playing into the hands of our ideological enemies”. As the storm grew, Satav clarified that he had never questioned Singh’s leadership and blamed the media.
BJP MAHARASHTRA CHIEF SAYS BJP-SHIV SENA GOVERNMENT POSSIBLE
Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil showed his interest to form a government of BJP-Shiv Sena alliance for the interest of development in the state. According to him, if the centre high command makes any formula and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray agrees with the formula, then BJP-Shiv Sena government could be formed in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, national BJP president JP Nadda has asked state leaders and party cadres to start strengthening BJP in the state to fight the election alone. As Patil’s statement caused a flutter, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said there was no proposal from either the BJP or the Sena to come together again. On the other hand, CM Uddhav Thackeray seems not to be interested in leaving alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA government) and wants to continue till term’s end. (IPA)
Time To Unmask Misoginistic Attitude Of Indian Courts 