Congress president Sonia Gandhi has been talking to Opposition leaders to convene a meeting and formulate a joint Opposition strategy in the budget session of Parliament over Centre’s new farm laws and the daily hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. The party has also decided to bring like-minded opposition parties on one platform to discuss the farm laws before the start of the budget session of the Parliament. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh is coordinating with the opposition leaders. Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Thursday that a total of 16 Opposition parties have announced a boycott of the President’s address in solidarity with the farmers protesting the new farm laws Besides Congress, the 15 other parties are NCP, SHIV SENA, AITC, DMK, JKNC, SP, RJD, CPI(M), CPI, IUML, RSP, PDP, MDMK, KERALA CONGRESS and AIUDF. Surprisingly, the JMM, Congress’s ally in Jharkhand which had been demanding repeal of the farm laws, wasn’t part of this merry band of opposition parties. The JMM has one Rajya Sabha member, party founder Shibu Soren. Congress party wants to corner Modi government in both houses of Parliament over the array issues raised by the protesting farmers.
NITISH INDICATES SHIFT FROM BJP, LIP-SERVICE TO SOCIALIST CAUSES
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and other leaders of JD(U) have signaled intent to shift away from their ally BJP and return to the party’s socialist roots in the state executive meeting. Nitish Kumar said that JDU belonged to the socialist ideology. “We believe in the tenets of Mahatma Gandhi, Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, B.R. Ambedkar and Karpoori Thakur. Our politics is to serve the people instead of harbouring selfish interests” Kumar said. He further said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not be implemented in Bihar.
ASHOK GEHLOT SHOWCASES LOYALTY TO GANDHIS AT CWC MEETING
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot’s lashed out at the 23 signatories to the July open letter to Sonia Gandhi at the CWC meeting on 22 January. For some time, internal strife has been brewing in the party over loyalty to the Gandhis and many believe Gehlot’s open show of aggression at the CWC, was to showcase his. The virtual meeting was highlighted by a volley of verbal exchange between two camps, one headed by Ashok Gehlot and Ambika Soniand the other with Anand Sharma leading the pack. Sharma is one of the 23 senior leaders who had written an unprecedented letter to Sonia Gandhi in July demanding sweeping changes in the party, including elections in the Congress Working Committee. As per Congress sources, it was Rahul Gandhi who intervened to calm things down, insisting that harsh words shouldn’t be used by either side, and emphasizing the need to keep the current focus on the farmers’ agitation. Gandhi said that the leadership issue would be settled once the internal elections take place. Congress sources also indicated that Ghulam Nabi Azad, one of the 23 signatories to the letter, demanded that elections be held both for the CWC and the Central Election Committee, a key body which finalises the party’s candidates for various elections as provided by the party constitution. Senior leaders P Chidambaram and Mukul Wasnik backed Azad in his demand for greater internal democracy, but irritated Gehlot and Soni. Gehlot in turn said the party must focus its energies on fighting the BJP instead of squandering on internal power struggles. Gehlot said that he had been in the party since 1973-1974 but did not remember a time when there was a poll in CWC, and that for years people in the Congress had held party post through nomination. Elections to CWC were held in Tirupati and Kolkata in 1993 and 1997 under the presidentship of PV Narsimha Rao and Sitaram Kesari. Anand Sharma complained that he was being targeted by Rajasthan CM but Ambika Soni reminded him no names had been taken. Besides Gehlot still faces a threat from Sachin Pilot in his home state. So it was perhaps also a message to the Gandhis that his loyalty towards them is unflinching.
MAMATA’S NEW SLOGAN TARGETS BOTH BJP AND LEFT
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has been at loggerheads with the BJP in the run-up to the state assembly election, on Monday came up with a new slogan ‘Hare Krishna Hare Ram, Vidaa Ho BJP Vaam’ to counter BJP and CPM. Mamata, who made this slogan while addressing an election rally in West Bengal, Hubli, asked the crowd whether they insult the guests if they invite them at home. The Chief Minister’s outburst followed 23rd January incident at Kolkata’s Victoria memorial where she walked off the dais where the Parakram Divas celebrations making Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary was being held. “The CPM, Congress and BJP are three brothers Jagai, Madhai and Gadai,” she said. While the unending slanging match between the TMC and BJP in West Bengal, state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said the people of the state are now exhausted and exasperated with the continued politics of aggressive speech by the two parties and asserted that the Congress-Left combine is gaining ground.
ALL EYES ON SASIKALA, NEWLY RELEASED FROM BENGALURU CENTRAL JAIL
VK Sasikala, the expelled AIADMK leader and a close associate of former chief minister, J Jayalalithaa, was released from Bengaluru Central Jail, Parappana Agrahara, on Wednesday. However, doctors treating the 66-year-old for Covid-19 at Victoria Hospital have advised against discharging her for the next two-three days. Sasikala was sentenced to four-year imprisonment in 2017 in a disproportionate assets case. She would certainly play a vital role with her breakaway Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam. The BJP is reportedly trying to forge an alliance with her party to lure her supporters in Karnataka and if the AIADMK is divided it will only benefit DMK and Sasikala may be open to compromises.(IPA Service)