Sharad Pawar Is Emerging As NCP Supremo With Stronger Domination

By Rahil Nora Chopra

The most unexpected development in the political scenario was Sharad Pawar’s resignation as NCP chief and this has not only surprised his party but also his Maharashtra allies Uddhav Thackeray and Congress. After the dramatic show of distress from partymen, Sharad Pawar agreed to once rethink over his decision. Election of the new president would, however, prove to a problematic issue since there are at least four potential candidates –Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil, Praful Patel, and Supriya Sule. Shard Pawar’s recommended committee would decide on the new president. However NCP passed a resolution rejecting Sharad Pawar’s resignation as party president and has requested him to continue to lead the party. If Sharad Pawar does not accept the request to continue as the president then in such case according to much added speculation his daughter Supriya Sule might be appointed as a new working president and will focus on the National politics. However Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar controls a significant number of MLAs, the best possible solution has to work out an agreement between Sule and Ajit and the buzz is that Ajit will look after the state and both can be guided by Pawar. Now, there is talk that Sharad Pawar has been unhappy with the way party leaders have been mounting the pressure to align with the BJP to avoid action against them by central agencies. The move to give up his post is to re-establish Pawar’s stature as an elder statesman, not only in his party but also in the opposition.

BJP WILL FOCUS ON ITS CORE ISSUE HINDUTVA IN LAST LEG OF KARNATAKA POLL CAMPAIGN

The Congress leadership has totally devoted the energy into the Karnataka election campaign and making all attempts possible to transform the pre-poll realities into a grand victory. Now Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi may debut in the party’s campaign for the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections on Saturday. She will be addressing a public meeting in Hubbali district. The BJP, the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), the three main contenders in Karnataka, have released their manifestos and campaigning is climbing to a crescendo. The State will now vote to elect a new Assembly on May 10 and the results will be announced three days later. The Congress in the manifesto promised to “repeal all unjust laws and anti-people laws passed by the BJP government within one year of coming to power.” The manifesto called ‘Sarva Janangada Shanthiya Thota’ (Peaceful garden of all communities) includes the Shakti scheme which will provide free travel to all women throughout the state in regular KSRTC/ BMTC buses and 200 units of free electricity for all households, the Gruha Lakshmi scheme under which each woman head of the family will receive Rs 2,000. For the BJP, the election is not merely about fighting for a second consecutive term in power but is also about winning an absolute majority of its own for the first time, and even reshaping the politics of the southern State. It has promised largesse including three free cooking gas cylinders a year, and half a litre of local dairy brand ‘Nandini’ milk every day to select beneficiaries. But the edge of its campaign is the promise of implementation of a National Register of Citizens, a controversial initiative which was originally confined to Assam, and a Uniform Civil Code for all religious communities. Both are hot and trending topics that could sharpen communal divides. With the tone being set, the party is likely to improve the decibel level on its core ideological positioning on Hindutva in the remaining days of the campaign.

ALL MAJOR POLITUICAL PARTIES IN UTTAR PRADESH ARE NOW BUSY WITH CIVIC BODIES POLLS

All major political parties of Uttar Pradesh are occupied with the single most task of campaigning for utmost crucial urban body polls. Currently Akhilesh Yadav is working on a strategy which emphasizes on Muslim-Yadav and Dalit (MYD) alliance by weaving a new social combination. He recently visited the birthplace of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. During the Ramcharitmanas controversy, Yadav even called himself a “shudra”. Meanwhile with a total of 4.32 crore voters, the urban local bodies elections in UP cover about 150 assembly seats, making it a crucial battleground for political parties. The importance of civic elections in UP can be evaluated from the fact that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been conducting public meetings. While addressing a rally in Ayodhya, CM Yogi said, “Ayodhya is attracting the world today with pride. Before 2017, people who hesitated to take even the name of Ayodhya, let alone visit the place, are now eager to come to the city. Ayodhya will become one of the most beautiful cities in the world”. While Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, all ministers, MLAs and MPs are also actively participating in civic poll campaigning. In Uttar Pradesh, elections are being held for 14,684 posts of municipal bodies, which include 17 mayors, 200 municipality chairpersons, 545 city panchayat chairpersons and 1,420 councilors. The results for both phases will be declared on May 13.

SENIOR BJP LEADERS IN CHHATTISHGARH JOIN CONGRESS BOOSTING ITS TRIBAL BASE

The former BJP Member of Parliament from Chhattisgarh and tribal leader Nand Kumar Sai had joined the Congress, and with his joining the party the speculation is rife that former minister of Madhya Pradesh Deepak Joshi might too join the Congress. Deepak Joshi, the son of former chief minister Kailash Joshi who was one of founder members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), stated that he would join the Congress on May 6. 77-year-old Nand Kumar Sai, a former three-term Lok Sabha member and three-time MLA, served as the BJP’s state president in both Chhattisgarh and undivided Madhya Pradesh in the past and has prominent influence in tribal-dominated parts of Surguja division (northern Chhattisgarh), Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. In Chhattisgarh, which has 32% tribal population, 29 out of 90 assembly seats are reserved for tribals. In such a situation, talks have started on the pros and cons of Nand Kumar Sai leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party and joining the Congress party..

BJP AND CONGRESS LEADERS ALREADY CAMPAIGNING IN M.P. FOR ASSEMBLY POLLS BY YEAR END

Both BJP and Congress have geared up their preparations to capture power in Madhya Pradesh. In this reference Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath asserted that he feels proud to be a Hindu but he is not a fool and strongly believed that Indian culture is facing attack and the Constitution is getting into the wrong hands. The remarks are aimed at the BJP in a state where Assembly polls are due by the year-end. On the other hand the promise to ban the Bajrang Dal by the Congress in its manifesto for the Karnataka Assembly polls has triggered a verbal war in Madhya Pradesh. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and MP home minister questioned Congress state chief Kamal Nath’s devotion to Hanuman, Nath said those involved in spreading hatred must face action.

BRS DETERMINED TO EXPAND ITS BASE IN MAHARASHTRA TO CONTEST ELECTIONS

Ahead of 2024 general elections the Bharat Rashtra Samiti is swiftly expanding its wings in other states like Maharashtra. Bharat Rashtra Samithi president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao announced that the party would not have any lead or tie up with any political party in Maharashtra and called on the party workers to spread out to every nook and corner of Maharashtra with their respective party slogan ‘Ab ki baar Kisan Sarkar’ from May 10 to June 10. The party was in the process of strengthening its organisational network in all the 288 Assembly constituencies. The party is geared up to set up its offices at four major cities viz., Mumbai, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Pune in the first phase, with the process already effective. Village level party committees would be made besides nine committees such as Farmer, Student, Youth, Women, SC, ST and OBC. These committees will work with sole aim to campaign on the Telangana model, explaining all the flagship schemes of the State and covering at least five villages a day. BRS has been trying to expand its aura outside Telangana for a long time. (IPA Service)

IPA Special