The Congress has in its manifesto “Save the Constitution” as one of its key poll planks after a senior BJP leader and Uttara Kannada BJP MP Anant Kumar Hegde urged voters to give a two-thirds majority to his party to rewrite the Constitution. Congress warned the people to beware of the BJP and made a special request to Dalits and tribals to refrain from hobnobbing with the BJP in the coming elections, launching a hashtag on twitter ‘Save Constitution, Remove BJP’. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged that Hegde’s statement “exposed the ulterior motives of the BJP to replace Baba Saheb Ambedkar’s version of the Constitution with their own, influenced by the Manusmriti”. On the other hand, the BJP on March 10 distanced itself from the remarks made by Hegde and sought an explanation from him.
RAHUL FROM AMETHI, PRIYANKA FROM RAEBARELI: GANDHI BASTIONS DEMAND
The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress unanimously approved a resolution for the candidature from the Gandhi family in Amethi and Raebareli seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. According to Sources, Rahul Gandhi may also contest from Amethi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from Raebareli, a seat which was previously held by Sonia Gandhi. Both the seats are considered bastions of the Gandhi family. Supporters of Priyanka Gandhi have put up posters in Raebareli, urging her to contest the Lok Sabha elections from there. The poster reads “Rae Bareli pukarti, Priyanka Gandhi ji aaye (Raebareli calling, Priyanka Gandhi come)”. The poster also asks that the Congress put forward its development work. The Pradesh Election Committee has discussed candidates in each of the 17 Lok Sabha seats allocated to the Congress under INDI-Alliance. Names of three probable candidates have been sent for other seats to the CEC.
USING JAT AND MUSLIM, BSP PLANS TO DERAIL BJP-RLD, SP-CONGRESS
The Bahujan Samaj Party is planning to field a number of prominent Jat and Muslim leaders in the constituencies where these two communities are in strength. It is a move aimed at denting the ‘Jat’ vote-bank of the BJP-RLD and the Muslim vote bank of the SP-Congress alliances. BSP has fielded Bijendra Singh from Bijnor, who belongs to the Jat community and joined the BSP a few days back after resigning from the post of the national general secretary of Lok Dal. Bijnor is considered the traditional stronghold of the BSP. The BSP also plans to field strong Muslim candidates on LS seats where the community plays a decisive role in deciding the outcome of the polls. BSP has fielded Dr Mujahid Hussain from Amroha Lok Sabha seat, Irfan Saifi from Moradabad , Anish Ahmed Khan aka Phool Babu from Pilibhit and Majid Ali from Saharanpur. All these four seats are in West Uttar Pradesh’s Rohilkhand region, where Muslims constitute 20%-40% of the population. While the Muslim BSP nominees could pose serious problems for the SP-Congress alliance, the party’s Jat candidates could pose similar problems to the BJP-RLD combine also.
RAHUL ANNOUNCES FIVE ‘MAHILA NYAY GUARANTEES’ TO WOO WOMEN VOTERS
Aspiring to woo the country’s women, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced five “Mahila Nyay” guarantees, including Rs 1 lakh annually for poor women and 50 percent reservation in government jobs, provided his party is voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Addressing a women’s rally in Maharashtra’s Dhule district, as part of his ongoing ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, Rahul announced the five “Mahila Nyay” guarantees. The key promises made during the rally are Mahalakshmi guarantee, Aadhi Aabadi Poora Haq, Shakti Ka Samman, Adhikar Maitri and Savitribai Phule hostels.
NDA ALMOST FINALIZES BIHAR SEATS AS CHIRAG PASWAN COUNTS HIS CHICKENS
The seat-sharing between BJP and JD(U) and other NDA partners in Bihar has been finalised and will be announced soon. The BJP has chosen Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti (Ram Vilas) Party over his uncle Pashupati Paras’s Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party, settling days of speculation. According to sources, Chirag is looking forward to fighting from six Lok Sabha seats and one Rajya Sabha seat, which BJP will find it difficult to concede. The BJP leadership has reportedly agreed to give Chirag five seats including the Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency that his father and Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan had won eight times. It is currently held by Paras. No Lok Sabha seats have been allocated to the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) led by Pashupati Kumar Paras — a party that is an NDA member and currently has five MPs in the House. Chirag Paswan is likely to contest from Paras’s seat and Paras may be offered a Rajya Sabha seat, according to BJP sources. While the BJP might also allot one seat to Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and one seat to Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party. According to sources, the BJP is likely to contest in 17 seats, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United) from 16 seats. (IPA Service)
