Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, and senior leaders of AICC interacted with the Assam PCC leadership in New Delhi on Thursday and held a detailed discussion on the way ahead for the party in the northeastern state, where it has been out of power since 2016. In the meeting, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi told that the state leaders must come forward with a collective and united front to take on the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government in Assam, and further said that anyone stepping out of the party line will face action. Though Congress would not be announcing a face for the party in the next year assembly election, Gaurav Gogoi, the son of late Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, is speculated to have emerged as the top leader in the state. On the other hand, the leadership made it clear to the state leaders that they need to remain united to overthrow the BJP government in the state. On the issue of striking alliance with regional parties in the state, AICC leadership assured the local leadership that they would mainly go by the rendered advices of the state unit.
MAMATA ACCUSES GROUP OF TAMPERING WITH WEST BENGAL’S VOTERS’ LIST
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee, in her party’s organisational meeting at Netaji Indoor Stadium, chalked out a strategy for the 2026 Assembly elections. The West Bengal chief minister announced that the political battle in the state would be even more intense and once again invoked her popular slogan ‘Khela Hobe’ [Let’s Play].Mamata had set an ambitious target for the TMC aiming to win more than 215 seats in the 294-member assembly. She also vowed to bring down the BJP’s seat count, which had bagged 77 seats in the 2021 state elections. Moreover, dynamic TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee rejected reports that he has differences with party supremo Mamata Banerjee, and reaffirmed his loyalty to her. However, Mamata also accused the BJP of tampering with West Bengal’s voters list by adding names of outsiders. She claimed that a group called the Association of Brilliant Minds was being deployed to manipulate data.
NITISH EXPANDS BIHAR CABINET TO FULL SCALE, ALL NEW BERTHS GO TO BJP
Ahead of Bihar assembly elections, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expanded his cabinet to its full span by giving all seven remaining ministerial berths to the BJP and increasing the total number to 36, the maximum permissible in the state with a 243-strong assembly. Among them, three are from the OBC (other backward classes), two from the EBC (extremely backward classes) and two are savarnas (upper castes). The expansion came on the heels of Nitish meeting BJP national president and Union health minister J.P. Nadda on Tuesday. The extent to which the power scales had tilted in the BJP’s favour was evident in the fact that Nitish made the rare gesture of travelling to the guest house where Nadda had put up. Till last year, Nadda used to go to the chief minister’s residence to meet Nitish. However, some JDU leaders said the all-BJP cabinet expansion could be a part of a deal to have Nitish as the chief ministerial face and ensure an equal distribution of seats in the Assembly elections in October-November.
DESPITE SHOCKING DEFEAT, HARYANA CONGRESS REMAINS LEADERLESS
The Congress party is looking forward to a fresh round of appointments at the AICC. The buzz is that the eminent scheduled caste leader and former Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar could be given a major responsibility by the Congress high-command soon. Tanwar might be appointed as the chairman of the AICC SC department in place of Rajesh Lilothia. Meanwhile, the Congress in Haryana is going through one of its most difficult phases as it struggles to recover from its shocking defeat at the hands of the BJP in the October 2024 assembly elections. The party’s continuous indecisiveness, particularly over appointment of the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Haryana assembly, has demoralised its legislators and workers. With 37 legislators in a house of 90 MLAs, Haryana’s main opposition party is in a leadership vacuum, a situation that left CLP struggling without a leader during the assembly session in November. The matter is expected to repeat in the budget session scheduled to commence on March 7.
AAP PICKS RAJYA SABHA MP SANJIV ARORA AS LUDHIANA WEST BYPOLL FACE
The Aam Aadmi Party named its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjiv Arora as the party candidate for the Ludhiana West assembly by-poll, sparking speculation that either Arvind Kejriwal or Manish Sisodia might replace him in Parliament. However, AAP has officially denied such speculations that Kejriwal would seek a Rajya Sabha nomination from Punjab. Sanjiv Arora, a Ludhiana-based industrialist, has been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 2022. His name for the by-poll came as the Ludhiana West seat went vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi last month. The buzz in the political circles is that if Arora wins this by-poll and becomes a MLA, he might be made a minister in the Bhagwant Mann cabinet. AAP presently has seven members in the Rajya Sabha from Punjab, including Arora. The other AAP Rajya Sabha members from Punjab include Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Ashok Mittal, Balbir Singh Seechewal and Vikramjit Singh Sahney. (IPA Service)
Induction Of Seven BJP Ministers In Bihar Cabinet Is A Snub To Nitish Kumar 