Prashant Kishor, a one-time close aide to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the former Vice President of his party JD(U),has started a new chapter since Nitish Kumar expelled him from the party. Now, Prashant has opened a front against Nitish Kumar. Kishor has blamed the Chief Minister saying that he is in the grip of the BJP, and therefore unable to decide whether he should go with Mahatma Gandhi or with Nathuram Godse. Kishor emerged in 2014 as an inimitable election strategist when he was working for Narendra Modi and BJP, catapulting them to landslide victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Later, he worked for the 2015 Nitish and Lalu (RJD) alliance, where too he succeeded, eventually leading Nitish Kumar to make him the Vice President of the party. After Bihar victory, Kishor has worked for Capt Amarinder Singh, Mamata Banerjee and now for the Aam Aadmi Party in the 2020 Delhi election. Kishor had given the slogan “Acche Beete 5 Saal, Lag Raho Kejriwal” for AAP in this election, which proved to be hugely successful. However, when Nitish Kumar supported the controversial CAA, Kishor advised Nitish Kumar against it, and on this issue Nitish Kumar expelled him from the party. Now Prashant Kishor started the campaigning in Bihar with the slogan “Bihar Ek Prayog” and is trying to forge a common alliance against the JD(U)-BJP alliance. Kishor will be visiting every district in Bihar to drive home his message.
SONIA GANDHI RAISES DELHI VIOLENCE ISSUE WITH PRESIDENT KOVIND
A Congress delegation led by the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi met President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday and submitted a memorandum on the Delhi violence. 38 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in the violence that started Sunday. The 11-member delegation included former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former union minister P Chidambaram, senior leaders Ahmed Patel and Randeep Surjewala. Sonia Gandhi has said that the party had called on the President to hand over the demands of the party and added that the centre and the newly elected state government had remained mute spectators. The party has demanded the resignation of the Union home minister Amit Shah and said the government should ensure that the life, liberty and property of the citizens is preserved, secured and protected. The memorandum has also raised concerns over the failure of intelligence agencies, inadequacy of the Delhi police and the alleged inflammatory remarks made by the leaders of BJP.
POST DELHI VICTORY, AAP EYES NATIONWIDE EXPANSION
After the victory in Delhi, AAP announced that the party would expand itself across 20 states through a nation-building campaign.AAP has already announced the decision to contest municipal polls in Mumbai. According to AAP, the Delhi victory has sent out the crucial message that instead of traditional politics along the lines of caste, religion and regionalism, the politics of work – “Kaam Ki Rajneeti” – can win you elections. People from different states across the country live in Delhi; Delhi is mini India. The majority of people of all over the country in Delhi have given their mandate for a new model of governance. According to AAP, the expansion project, starting with a massive poster campaign will be launched across 20 states. A dedicated number 9871010101 will be displayed in those posters in different languages. AAP had gone for an expansion drive after its 2015 victory too. However, except Punjab they were failed to make inroads into the heavily dominated national scene. Now, AAP is eyeing other states, especially Goa, Gujarat and Rajasthan where they were largely unsuccessful in the past.
DIKSHIT, THAROOR’S CALLS FOR ELECTIONS REBUFFED BY CONGRESS TOP BRASS
After the defeat of Congress in Delhi assembly elections, Sandeep Dikshit, son of the late former CM Sheila Dikshit, has said that the biggest challenge faced by the party is the leadership question. Dikshit has accused senior leaders of failing to find a new Congress President because they are scared of who will bell the cat. After this senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor also gave an open call for a leadership election within the Congress. Although Dikshit and Tharoor were rebuffed by the party high command, but a senior leader asserted that Rahul Gandhi, who had stepped down as the Congress President after the defeat in2019 Lok Sabha election, is set to return as the party president, since there is no other leader to lead the party at this juncture. The Congress constitution says that 12 out of 23 members of the Congress Working Committee will be elected by the AICC delegates. The last time election of CWC was held two decades ago in 1997, when Sitaram Kesri was the party president. Sonia Gandhi, who became the Congress president in 1998, always nominated the CWC members. Tharoor called for the election for 12 elected seats in the CWC, as well as for the party president’s post, but the party has criticized both Dikshit and Tharoor. According to party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, it is CWC which elected the Congress president. Surjewala said that if anybody had any illusions they should read the resolution of CWC. Surjewala appealed to the party leaders to work to strengthen the Congress party.
CONGRESS MULLS OVER SENDING PRIYANKA TO RAJYA SABHA
The top leadership of the Congress is deliberating whether or not it should send Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the party’s general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, to the Rajya Sabha. This comes even as the chorus for her being made a member of the Upper House is growing and leaders from the Congress party ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan lining up to offer their state seat. As many as 51 Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant in April, of which eight are from the Congress ruled states. The Congress has 46 seats in the 245-member Upper House. Senior Congress leaders feel that Priyanka being a member of the Rajya Sabha could help in a two-pronged attack on the Union government, with her brother and former party president Rahul Gandhi leading the charge of the Congress in the Lok Sabha. (IPA Service)
Nitish Facing A Tough Challenger In Kanhaiya Kumar 