Nitish Govt Approves Sop For 94 Lakh EBC, OBC, Dalit Families

By Rahil Nora Chopra

To consolidate its EBC, OBC and Dalit vote bank ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar has passed a proposal to provide financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh each to more than 94 lakh families identified based on the recently conducted caste survey. A proposal in this regard was brought during a state Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The proposal got approval to provide financial aid of Rs 2 lakh to 94,33,312 families belonging from financially weak backgrounds. The state government will give an amount of Rs 2 lakh each in three instalments, out of which the first instalment will be 25 per cent, 50 per cent for the second instalment and 25 per cent for the third instalment. Meanwhile, JD(U) is gearing up for commemoration of Kapoori’s birth anniversary on a grand scale in Bihar in a bid to give a fresh push to the cause of social justice. The JD(U) will held various programmes and event during January 22-24 to mark Kapoori’s birth anniversary, which will encompass Patna as well as his village Pitaunjhija, now renamed Kapoori Gram in Samastipur district. Nitish will attend some of these events.

RAHUL GANDHI TO VISIT ASSAM’S FAMOUS KAMAKHYA TEMPLE ON JANUARY 22

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is passing through the country’s northeast, and during the journey, he may be visiting the famous Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati on January 22, the day when the Ram temple consecration ceremony will be held in Ayodhya. Among Opposition leaders, Trinamool Congress president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced that she would be in the Kali Ghat temple in Kolkata and hold an all-faith prayer meet. While Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said he would go to Ayodhya with his family after Ram temple consecration ceremony on January 22. Senior opposition leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad Yadav, and Uddhav Thackeray have turned down invitations for the event, criticizing and citing the reason that the BJP’s has shown a great rush to consecrate an under-construction temple and accusing it of looking to bolster its vote bank.

YET TO FINALISE SEAT SHARING PACT, AKHILESH KEEPS CONGRESS AT BAY

In another sign of the faded ties between SP and Congress amidst seat negotiations in Uttar Pradesh, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav signaled that he might not participate in Congress leader Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, giving the reason of him not being invited either by the Congress or the BJP for any of their programmes as and when organized. On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav flagged off the party’s ‘Samvidhan Bachao, Desh Bachao Samajwadi PDA (Pichada, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) Yatra’, which aims to take to people the ideologies of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia and Mulayam Singh Yadav down to the villages. Meanwhile, Congress and SP held a meeting on Wednesday to discuss seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls but no final decision was made, even as both sides expressed confidence of reaching a fruitful agreement soon. According to sources, SP was not ready to leave more than 12 constituencies for the Congress in the state but Congress, on the other hand, wanted 2009 as the basis of seat sharing. In the 2009 LS polls, Congress had won 21 seats in the state on its own. While the Congress is keen for the BSP to come within the INDIA fold, Mayawati reiterated and has been adamant that she would fight the Lok Sabha polls alone.

WHICH SEAT WILL PRIYANKA CONTEST FROM: BELLARY, RAEBARELI OR VARANASI?

The speculation is rife that Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may be contesting from Bellary or Koppal in Karnataka. Although Sonia Gandhi had won from Bellary against Sushma Swaraj of the BJP during the 1999 general elections, Telangana Congress looks forward and aspires Priyanka to be fielded from Medak, which elected Indira Gandhi in 1980. Priyanka Gandhi, who campaigned extensively in Karnataka and Telangana in the 2023 Assembly elections, always recollected that they had a family association with the state. If the party and Priyanka agree to her being fielded from Karnataka, she will be the third generation from the Nehru-Gandhi family to contest from the state. Her grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had resurrected her political career in 1978 by winning a by-election from Chikmagalur. However, with the possibility of Sonia Gandhi vacating the Raebareli constituency due to ill health, Priyanka might contest from Raebareli. Recently, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed the name of Priyanka Gandhi as the INDIA bloc’s candidate from the Varanasi seat against PM Modi in the upcoming 2024 general elections. The suggestion was rendered during the fourth meeting of the INDIA alliance held in Delhi.

YS SHARMILA-LED CONGRESS TO TAKE ON BROTHER CM JAGAN REDDY IN ANDHRA

Ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls and assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress appointed YS Sharmila, daughter of former chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, as the president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC). While Sharmila will be fighting an electoral battle against her brother and chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in the state. However both will compete fiercely to the claim of being the true heir of Rajasekhar Reddy’s legacy. Jagan who initially has named almost every scheme in the state after his father. Now, Sharmila is looking forward to bring back to the Congress the claim to be called the true home of her father. The Congress leadership firmly put faith and believes that Sharmila would help the Congress regain its past glory. From winning consecutive assembly elections in 2004 and 2009, the party does not have a single MLA in the state at present. (IPA Service)

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