By Rahil Nora Chopra
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday requested President Droupadi Murmu to ask the Union Government to reconsider Dushyant Gautam’s appointment as Sikkim governor and defer his assumption of office until the CBI completes its investigation into the alleged VIP angle in the 2022 murder of Ankita Bhandari. In a letter to Murmu, Gandhi said he was approaching the President as a last resort, urging her to use Article 74(1) of the Constitution to ask the government to reconsider its advice on the appointment. Earlier, Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had interacted with Ankita’s parents at India Gate, where they had appeared to protest against the appointment and sought justice for their daughter. Ankita’s father, Virendra Singh Bhandari, said Gautam should be behind bars and appealed to President Droupadi Murmu to cease the appointment until the CBI investigation is completed. The family also has sought an appointment with President Murmu to put forth its concerns. They have warned that they would stage a hunger strike outside the Uttarakhand Chief Minister’s office at the Secretariat in Dehradun, if their demand was not met. The alleged VIP angle, however, continues to draw political attention.
AKHILESH REITERATES MUSLIM-YADAV-PDA PLANK FOR 2027 UP STATE POLLS
With the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections ahead, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav aims to widen the anti-BJP coalition, claiming that a combination of PDA, Muslim-Yadav voters, and an angry Gen Z would ensure the BJP’s defeat. Akhilesh has said: “If the Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) votes are intact and the PDA is brought together, with the anger growing among Gen Z, the BJP’s wipeout is certain.” The remarks signifies an effort to combine the Samajwadi Party’s traditional Muslim-Yadav support base with a broader social coalition of backward classes, Dalits and minorities, while seeking to tap into youth discontent. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said public representatives who remain engrossed in their families and wake up at noon cannot understand people’s problems, in an apparent attack on the Samajwadi Party and its chief Akhilesh Yadav. Addressing a programme to honour sanitation workers in Varanasi, Adityanath said, leaders who considered their families to be their entire world, could not bring about change and asserted that elected representatives must remain connected with people and participate in their joys and sorrows.
NEHA BORA, THE NEW STUDENT FACE OF GEN Z PROTESTS AGAINST RIGGED SIR
Neha Bora, the president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), has become the national spotlight following protests in Delhi against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The 29-year-old student activist was among those recently detained by Delhi Police during demonstrations linked to allegations of irregularities in the revision of electoral rolls. Neha Bora marched alongside Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the INDIA bloc’s protest in Delhi and also attended an INDIA bloc high-tea meeting and press conference at the residence of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi. Neha directly targeted at the BJP and said: “The one enemy of the people of this country, of Indian democracy, and of the Constitution is the BJP. An attack on voter rights is an attack on India and an attack on democracy.” Bora was among the student leaders who had joined education reformer Sonam Wangchuk in an indefinite hunger strike at Jantar Mantar as part of the wider student-led protests spearheaded by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) over alleged examination irregularities. The stir eventually led to the resignation of former Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Bora had also participated in the protests in Jharkhand over alleged irregularities in the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission examinations. During the stir, an unidentified man allegedly threw ink at them, but Bora continued the agitation, sharing that the incident would not threaten them.
RAHUL CONDEMNS CJP YOUTH LEADERS’ ARREST, DIPKE THANKS GANDHI
Lok Sabha Opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi has condemned the arrest of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders for waving the Tricolour on Jantar Mantar Road, which was denotified as a protest site on Monday. Rahul posted on X: “Waving the Tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest is not a crime. Jailing youth for it is an act of cowardice. Students. Youth. Journalists. The INDIA bloc. Different banners, one cause. All protests are one: citizens demanding their constitutional rights. Jantar Mantar belongs to the people of India. We will reclaim it.” The CJP refrained from Congress and INDIA bloc-organised meetings and protests, and both sides have clashed on social media. The Trinamool Congress and the Left have attempted to act as a bridge between the two. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke thanked Rahul and other leaders in individually addressed X posts. “Thank you, LoP @RahulGandhi sir, for speaking out against the illegal arrest of @AshutoshRanka & @SauravDassss,” he posted. The open support to the jailed CJP leaders further indicates a change in Rahul Gandhi’s strategy amid the ongoing protest and criticism that the Congress was maintaining its distance from the CJP. (IPA Service)
