West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated and greeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on his birthday. “Heartiest birthday wishes to Shri @RahulGandhiji. Wishing you good health and a wonderful year ahead!” she tweeted. Though it is evident in the political circles that Mamata does not keep good terms with Rahul due to many reasons, chiefly because Rahul, being very close to Sitaram Yechury, is instrumental for West Bengal Congress and Left alliance. Even the state Congress leadership wants to continue the alliance with the Left parties. At present, ties between the Congress and the Trinamool look relatively tense and adversarial. The two parties are already locked in a bitter conflict in West Bengal, where nominations have been being filed and election tempo is picking up ahead of Panchayat polls on July 8. Recently, Mamata has announced in one of the public meetings that if Congress leaves the alliance with the Left parties, then she can go ahead and support the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. There’s buzz that the TMC wants a non-BJP front nationally and is keeping its options open for a pre-poll alliance in West Bengal with Congress in a few seats.
IS MAYAWATI WARMING UP TO ALLIANCE WITH CONGRESS FOR LOK SABHA 2024?
The BSP had held a meeting of party leaders in Lucknow to discuss the political scenario and jump-start preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. To add a twist, it seems they have been launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but adopting a soft stance toward the Congress. BSP president Mayawati signalled that her party was open to joining the opposition alliance. Mayawati said everyone had constitutional rights to live with dignity and all the religions should get equal respect. When the country was facing a big challenge on various fronts, the government should take all the communities along, she said. The Dalit and Muslim communities were being sidelined. Manipur was in the grip of violence due to the narrow politics of the BJP, she added. However, Mayawati’s soft stance towards the Congress comes in the backdrop of talks of possible alliance between the grand old party and the BSP for the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and also in UP for next year’s Lok Sabha elections. BSP MP from Amroha, Kunwar Danish Ali, who recently tweeted a photo with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, congratulating him on his birthday, said the BSP should join the big opposition alliance to defeat the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Earlier, BSP MP from the Jaunpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Shyam Singh Yadav, joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, when it entered Delhi. He walked with Rahul for about three hours through various areas in the national capital, triggering speculation of a possible warming-up in relations between the Mayawati-led BSP and the Congress.
KCR SAYS TELANGANA’S WELFARE STATE MODEL BE REPLICATED NATIONALLY
With the Telangana assembly elections approaching and the 2024 parliamentary elections in sight, the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao affirms that his party’s success in achieving the support of women, farmers, and marginalised groups with various welfare schemes can be replicated at the national level. KCR has projected himself as a pro-farmer leader and asserted that the food processing industries to converts paddy into various products would be set up across the state. While in an attempt to woo the Dalit voters in Telangana, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS)-led K Chandrashekar Rao’s government built a 125-foot-tall statue of Dr BR Ambedkar near the State Secretariat. This statue is made of bronze. On the other hand, the government provides Rs 10 lakh per household without any bank loan linkage under the Dalit Bandhu scheme to establish a suitable income-generating source. Besides, the government also provides three acres of agricultural land to landless SC women, along with the provision for creation of irrigation facilities, land development and their agricultural inputs for their sustained livelihood. KCR exuded confidence that the BRS would return to power after the Assembly elections, and there was no doubt about it. He stated that the BRS would undertake more development programmes in its third term, besides completing pending projects. He was addressing a public meeting at Thummaluru village in Maheshwaram Assembly constituency on Monday after taking part in ‘Haritha Utsavam’, which involved the mass plantation drive, the same being conducted across the state, as part of decennial celebrations of the state formation. Rao showered sops on Ranga Reddy district on the occasion. He announced the extension of Hyderabad Metro Rail project to Kandukur in the district.
RLD WANTS SP TO PATCH UP WITH CONGRESS TO BOLSTER UNITED OPPOSITION
The rift between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) seems to be have widened, with RLD leaders confirming that the party batted for a united opposition for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and said that without the Congress no front can be effective in countering the BJP. The RLD wants the SP, Congress and Azad Samaj Party to bridge their differences and work together to bring about a change. Both parties, however, officially maintained that there were no differences. But the speculations of the rift further gained traction after Akhilesh skipped the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah in Karnataka, but Jayant Chaudhary attended it. Evidently in another such instance, Akhilesh recently supported West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s comment in which she has talked about the Congress that it should support regional parties on seats where they have a strong foothold. However, Chaudhary triggered speculations regarding an alliance with the Congress saying, “Our alliance with SP will continue. Simultaneously, the opposition parties will think about an alliance with Congress.” Earlier, RLD had extended their support to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and participated in his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Western Uttar Pradesh and hinted at all possible chances of new alliances, with the Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
CONGRESS LOOKING FOR PRE-POLL ALLIANCE WITH JAGAN’S SISTER SHARMILA
With the assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, along with Lok Sabha elections, scheduled in 2024, Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s estranged sister, YS Sharmila, who initiated her own party Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Telangana Party two years ago, has been reportedly in communication with the Congress for a merger. Hints of merger or a possible alliance have been detected with Sharmila meeting Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar a few times since the Congress party stormed to power in the neighbouring state. While Sharmila is interested in carving out a political space for herself in Telangana, on the other hand, Congress wants her to focus on Andhra Pradesh. But that would pit her against her brother. Moreover, Sharmila recently conveyed birthday wishes to Rahul Gandhi. The forthcoming days are expected to shed light on whether the Congress strategy works and will the grand old party accept the conditions as set by Sharmila. (IPA Service)