Even after the bad performance of Congress in the Bihar election, there are still many party loyalists who want Rahul Gandhi’s return as the national president. Most of them have expressed earnest desire that Rahul should take over before the plenary session to be held in January-February 2021.However, not everyone within the grand old party is on the same page vis-à-vis Rahul’s return at the helm. Several senior Congress leaders want that Rahul should become the party president again through official formalities to be decided at the All India Congress Committee meeting, perhaps through a regular process like an election. But the Gandhi loyalists fear that an election would allow dissidents to make it difficult for him to assume the leadership mantle, as they are in no mood to surrender. Sonia Gandhi, too, is said to be in favour of a balanced approach. Gandhi loyalists within the Congress want Rahul to take over in December itself, by acceding to the Congress Working Committee request. Young leaders suspect that most of the senior Congress leaders are reluctant to take on Narendra Modi with full force. If Rahul Gandhi wants to allow a serious fight for democracy to build up in the polity, he has to either take over the reins of the Congress fully, or be willing to step aside and work under any other Congressman/woman without the entitlement of being a Gandhi. Rahul must not run the INC like it belongs to the Gandhi family, but in fact, make it seem that it belongs to the people of India.
BJP DANGLES ‘COVID VACCINE’ CARROT BEFORE HYDERABAD CIVIC POLLS
After Bihar, now BJP has promised free Covid-19 vaccine for all in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls as well. This promise in the party’s manifesto for the Hyderabad civic elections comes just after PM Narendra Modi warned against politicisation of the coronavirus vaccine. Earlier BJP had made similar promise in its vision document released before the Bihar assembly elections.
CONGRESS PANEL ON ECONOMIC AFFAIRS SUGGESTS CORRECTIVE STEPS
The newly-formed Congress panel on economic affairs met on 21 November to discuss the state of the country’s economy and the impact of Covid-19. The panel was headed by former PM Manmohan Singh and other members of the committee, including former Union ministers P Chidambaram, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh as well as former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh. At the meeting, the panelists discussed strategy to be adopted by the party in putting pressure on the government to review the economy. They asserted that the government should initiate steps to review the state of the economy impartially, and take steps to compensate farmers for their produce, oversee implementation of the NYAY scheme to put money in the hands of poor, as well as aim for creation of fresh jobs to tackle the unemployment rate which stood at 6.4%, apart from giving more money to the states. The NYAY scheme was the part of Congress manifesto in 2019 Lok Sabha polls and is a kind of universal basic income programme.
NOW RECOVERED, AMIT SHAH BACK AT THE HOME MINISTRY HELM
Home Minister Amit Shah did not campaign in Bihar for a single day which created rumours that either he wasn’t well or the party was not in a good position in the state. It was thought that Shah was avoiding his presence in Bihar polls for the aforementioned reasons. However, soon after the successful elections in Bihar, his visits to West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have cleared the air. Shah was advised by his doctors to avoid public meetings because of low immunity after the coronavirus attack. He is now attending the Home Ministry regularly, besides supervising strategies for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
TMC-BJP WAR OF WORDS HEAT UP AS 2021 BENGAL POLLS HOVER IN HORIZON
As the West Bengal assembly elections draw closer, the verbal attacks between TMC and BJP get ever more bitter day-by-day. Firstly, TMC leaders have used the “outsider” tag to target the BJP leaders who are visiting West Bengal for canvassing. Now state BJP president Dilip Ghosh has asked Mamata Banerjee to say whether freedom fighters from Bengal had fought for only Bengal’s independence or for the country. Ghosh has asked if West Bengal considers the prime minister or the home minister as outsiders. He has also claimed that Bengal has over 40 lakh people who are working in different states, and if they are forced to return would the government give them jobs here? Meanwhile, rumblings within the TMC came to fore on Thursday when minister Suvendu Adhikari resigned as Chairman of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) and party MP Kalyan Banerjee was named to the post with immediate effect. Minister for transport, irrigation and water resources Adhikari has been distancing himself from the TMC for several months now, organising programmes without the party banner. Posters of Amra Dadar Anugami(“We are the followers of Dada”) have been put up by his supporters at several places. Speculation is rife that Adhikari may leave the TMC for BJP ahead of the assembly elections in West Bengal next year.
CHOUHAN’S CLOSE AIDE MINISTERS LOSE MADHYA PRADESH BYPOLLS
Although the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has saved his government by winning the by-elections, but his three ministers —Imarti Devi, Giriraj Dandotiya and Aidal Singh— have lost the elections. Only one of them, Aidal Singh, has given his resignation from the ministership since then. Meanwhile, Shivraj Singh Chouhan has not demanded resignations from Imarti Devi and Giriraj Dandotiya, because of the looming threat from Jyotiraditya Scindia’s by-poll victories. The three ministers in question had taken oath in Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet on July 2, during the second rejig of the team. They could remain in their posts for six months which will be over on January 1, 2021. (IPA)
Tarun Gogoi’s Demise Marks The End Of An Era In Assam Congress 