K Chandrasekhar Rao Asserts National Ambition With Pro-Farmer Image

By Rahil Nora Chopra

Targeting the 2024 parliamentary elections, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has asserted that his party’s success in winning the support of women, farmers and marginalised groups with various welfare schemes, can be replicated at the national level. KCR has projected himself as a pro-farmer leader by financially helping the kin of agricultural workers from Delhi and Punjab, who lost their lives in the 2020-2021 farm agitations. With the announcement of a national party, KCR has begun showcasing himself as more than a regional leader. This move will also help his party cement its pole position in Telangana, where the BJP is making steady inroads. Meanwhile, Telangana goes to the polls in 2023. If the Bharat Rashtra Samithi can defeat an aggressively campaigning BJP in the state, KCR is likely to use the victory as an endorsement to project himself as a strong opposition against the BJP at the national level, and even find supporters who see him as a serious contender for the PM post.

CHHATTISGARH CONGRESS AVOIDS A RAJASTHAN, DEO HALTS AMBITION

Much like the infighting in Rajasthan, a power tussle between Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and state cabinet minister TS Singh Deo has been raging in Chhattisgarh for at least a few years. However, it seems that Deo has suspended his political ambition till the new Congress president is appointed. Deo asserted that he would be completely subordinate to the decision made by the Congress high command. He clearly gave the message that he is not in any haste and is waiting for the right time to act. Meanwhile, Baghel went on to become CM when the Congress unseated the BJP in the 2018 Assembly polls, though some sections of the party have routinely claimed that, as per the agreement at the time, TS Singh Deo was supposed to get the top post after two-and-half years.

PRASHANT KISHOR SLAMS NITISH, SAYS OPTIONLESS BIHARIS MIGRATE FOR JOBS

After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shared that Prashant Kishor had once asked him to merge his Janata Dal (United) with the Congress party, and that the poll strategist is working for the BJP, Kishor has hit back. The ace electoral planner said: “Slowly, age seems to be catching up with Nitish Kumar and he seems to be growing delusional”. Dismissing Kishor as a political non-entity, JD(U) national president, Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh, has said Kishor had made the JD(U)-Congress merger proposal to CM Nitish in his presence. Kishor launched his ‘padayatra’ on October 2 from Bhitiharwa Gandhi Ashram. The strategist is now gunning for all the political parties that have ruled Bihar, stating that the state has not any development since 1990. Kishor also added that people in Bihar have been left with no option but to migrate to other states searching for employment.

SHARAD PAWAR, SUPRIYA SULE, LALU YADAV MAY JOIN BHARAT JODO YATRA

When Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Maharashtra on November 9, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and his firebrand daughter Supriya Sule may be on the front-lines to welcome the nationwide foot-march. Before the commencement of the Yatra, the Congress had invited all political parties and organizations bearing the same secular ideological banner to be a part of the initiative. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has urged RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav to participate in the Bharat Jodo Yatra for a day, saying this would send out a good message. As evident, already Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader MK Stalin was personally present in Kanyakumari to see off Rahul Gandhi wherefrom the historic Yatra began. Leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) too participated in the Yatra in Kerala. Congress sources shared that some leaders and workers of the Janata Dal (Secular) also participated in the Yatra in Karnataka.

CONGRESS POLLS: KHARGETO CONSULT GANDHIS, THAROOR FOR REFORMS

Congress presidential poll candidate Mallikarjun Kharge believes in united leadership and if elected president, he would be consulting party leaders Sonia Gandhi as well as Rahul Gandhi on organisational matters. The senior Congressman said that he was contesting the election for the top party post to save the Constitution and democracy in the country. However, Kharge asserted that he was asked by Congress workers to enter the fray as no one from the Gandhi family came forward to contest the election. The Gandhis wanted to stay away from the process to ensure an impartial poll. On the other hand, Congress presidential candidate Shashi Tharoor has asserted that if he becomes the AICC chief, he would fully implement the party’s existing constitution which requires CWC elections and revival of the parliamentary board that has been dormant for about 25 years. The holding of the Congress Working Committee elections and the revival of the parliamentary board were among the key demands of G-23 leaders, including Tharoor, who wrote to party chief Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large scale organisational reforms. (IPA Service)

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