By Rahil Nora Chopra
Ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the seven-party alliance of Mahagathbandhan, led by Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar, is planning to give land to landless people to construct houses. In addition, the ruling alliance in Bihar is also planning a special survey of those previously landless people who have already been given land and whose families have been living on the distributed plots. The benefit of the new scheme will made available by the Bihar government to people belonging to scheduled castes, backward and very backward classes, who do not have land to build their own house on. In the wake of the Bihar government rolling out a state-wide caste census, and now giving land to the landless just before the Lok Sabha elections, Nitish Kumar is trying to consolidate the Mahagathbandhan vote bank among the scheduled castes, backward and extremely backward classes and strengthening the social engineering.
GEHLOT-PILOT RIFT WIDENS AS RAJASTHAN CONGRESS BRACES FOR POLLS
The rift between the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has kept the Rajasthan Congress pot simmering. Both Gehlot and Pilot camps are making their own ticket list and demanding more share in the ticket distribution in the upcoming assembly elections of Rajasthan. Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot flagged an inordinate delay by the leadership in taking action against those who defied then president Sonia Gandhi by not letting a legislature party meeting take place, and said the decision on the party’s affairs in Rajasthan must be taken soon if the trend of alternate governments has to be bucked.
AHEAD OF 2024, BJP FOCUSES ON ‘MUSLIM OUTREACH’, PLANS ‘SUFI SAMVAD’
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP has initiated a novel strategy for its Muslim outreach programme: a Sufi Samvad or planned interactions with minorities, especially those from an economically backward section, with special emphasis on the Muslim-dominated districts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala and Telangana. The dialogues were organised after Prime Minister Modi asked party leaders to reach out to Pasmandas and Bohras from the Muslim community in the country. At the launch of the campaign, representatives belonging to Muslim, Christian and Sikh communities were invited to the BJP headquarters for a dialogue. The party has decided to formulate a team of 20 members at every mandal, who will then visit the minority-dominated areas to talk about their future with them.
AKHILESH YADAV GEARS UP FOR LARGER NATIONAL ROLE IN 2024 POLLS
After CM Arvind Kejriwal, CM Mamata Banerjee and CM K Chandrashekhar Rao, now Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has given out clues regarding his ambition to play a prominent role in national politics in 2024. The party is looking forward to expanding its footprint in other states, beyond Uttar Pradesh. In this context, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav interacted with former Gujarat CM Shankarsinh Vaghela, during his Gujarat tour. Speculation is rife that Vaghela may join the SP in days to come. According to sources, SP will fight the Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections due this year and will not ally with any other political party. SP is gearing up for a fresh blueprint for the seats dominated by the voters from Yadav and Muslim communities. Meanwhile, SP will mainly emphasize on Bundelkhand region, which is close to the UP border; in Gwalior-Chambal, Riva and Sagar region in Madhya Pradesh; and in Rajasthan’s Alwar region. The caste arithmetic favours the SP and the party looks to not just contest elections in these states, but also seeks strengthen its roots, powering peoples movements in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
TIPRA MOTHA PARTY’S PRADYOT DEBARMA IN TALKS WITH AMIT SHAH
After the government formation in Tripura, Union Home Minister Amit Shah conducted a meeting with the Tipra Motha Party, the regional party which won 13 of the 60 seats. The BJP’s efforts are on for a possible alliance with the TMP to run the government smoothly. Tipra Motha Party chief Pradyot Debbarma said that the Home Minister has initiated the process for a constitutional solution for the indigenous peoples of Tripura. An interlocutor for this process will be appointed soon. Having the TMP on BJP’s side not only dilutes Opposition unity, which includes the Left Front and the Congress, but also provide a big boost to the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. (IPA Service)
