Prime Minster Narendra Modi, just after returning from his first State visits to the US and Egypt, met with President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. While it is standard practice that the prime minister briefs the President on foreign visits, the fact his meeting with President Murmu was followed by a series of meetings within the BJP over the last few days, has sparked speculation about a possible cabinet reshuffle, as well as other major changes in the party organization in the coming days. An interaction of the party leadership with PM Modi on Wednesday has made many ministers sleepless. The monsoon session of the Parliament may commence towards the end of July. Many wonder whether the PM may rejig his council of ministers before the commencement of the session.
KHARGE CALLS MEETING OF RAJASTHAN LEADERS AHEAD OF ASSEMBLY POLLS
After Congress’s strategic attempt to appoint TS Singh Deo as the deputy chief minister of Chhattisgarh, the party is now emphasizing on Rajasthan where assembly elections are due to be held later this year. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has speeded up efforts to find a solution in Rajasthan, with the negotiation shifting from the chief minister’s post to the maintaining a much-required balance of power between Ashok Gehlot and his challenger Sachin Pilot. On 3 July, Kharge has called a meeting of Rajasthan leaders in Delhi to discuss the election strategy. It is believed that in this meeting, the main aim will be to accommodate Pilot in a more seminal role in the party to ease the pressure on CM Ashok Gehlot, as well as try some sort of detente before the Rajasthan election commences. It is also of utmost importance whether Pilot would be ready to accept a Delhi posting as an AICC general secretary, or will continue to insist on his return to the previous posts in Rajasthan. On the other hand, Congress is reportedly finding it difficult to meet Pilot’s three core demands without upsetting CM Gehlot or discrediting the state government. Reportedly, the high command intends to reach a compromise with Pilot, although it’s a challenging task because of the Tonk MLA’s insistence that Gehlot accepts all his demands, including a high-level enquiry into alleged corruption cases during erstwhile Vasundhara Raje government, disbanding Rajasthan Public Service Commission and reconstituting it via a new law, and compensation for students who suffered due to paper leaks. The Gehlot camp has been opposing the acceptance of these demands as it may negatively impact the Congress government ahead of the upcoming elections.
AKHILESH YADAV LAUNCHING ALL OUT DRIVE TO WIN BIG IN LOK SABHA POLLS
Samajwadi Party’s national president Akhilesh Yadav is assessing every political step carefully, eyeing Dalits, Lodhi and Maurya votes. About 6-7 percent of the voters in Uttar Pradesh comprise the Lodhi community and 8-9 percent of voters are from the Maurya community. Directly connecting with the youth of every village and chalking out a strategy for the future, the Akhilesh-led SP has commenced the preparation for “Mission 80” in Uttar Pradesh for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The party is putting emphasis more on Azamgarh, Aligarh, Unao, Barabanki, Etawah, Hamirpur, Bulandshahr, Rampur and Kushinagar to prepare the ground to win the seats. SP is also constructing a big new office in Azamgarh. The spacious office, which will also cater as a residence for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, is poised to be the second-most important party centre after Lucknow. This new ‘Purvanchal office’ of the party will help SP leaders strategise for the parliamentary seats in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.
KCR’S BRS ENTERS 2024 LOK SABHA, VIDHAN SABHA POLL FRAY IN MAHARASHTRA
Eyeing the 2024 parliamentary elections, Telangana Chief Minister and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) founder K Chandrashekar Rao staged a massive show of power in Maharashtra on Monday as he visited on a holy journey with a huge entourage of over 600 cars and SUVs on a pilgrimage to Pandharpur and Tuljapur. KCR aims to contest all the 48 Lok Sabha seats and 288 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra in 2024 and had already commenced the preparations stunning the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, which feared about the division of votes. As KCR entered Maharashtra via a bus entering the Solapur border – people on both sides of the road welcomed him by waving pink flags and flower petals amid slogans of – “abki baar…kisan sarkaar”. KCR was accompanied by his ministers, MPs, MLAs and MLCs besides hundreds of cars and SUVs accompanied the bus in which KCR was travelling.
CONGRESS READIES ITSELF TO TAKE ON KCR-LED RULING BRS IN TELANGANA
The assembly elections in Telangana to be held are just a few months away. The Congress has held a planned meeting with the state leaders at the party headquarters on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and was attended by former party president Rahul Gandhi, Telangana in-charge Manikrao Thakre, state president Revanth Reddy and other senior state leaders. Rahul Gandhi categorically told the state leaders that there would be no alliance among the Congress and the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BSR) – either at the state or national levels. He focused and stressed that the party has found a winning template in Karnataka and it must be replicated in Telangana too. Rahul Gandhi also suggested the leaders of Telangana not to speak publicly against each other, and rendered the idea of instead to raise concerns at the party forum. While BRS suffered a major blow after over a dozen party leaders joined the Congress and met the party’s top leadership. The leaders who joined included former MP Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, former minister Jupally Krishna Rao and ex-MLAs Panyam Venkateswarlu, Koram Kanakaiah, Kota Ram Babu. (IPA Service)
.