AAP, Congress Face Off Over Seven Delhi Seats For Lok Sabha 2024

The Delhi unit of the Congress is in a bind, with its own party leaders putting the blame on it for not being able to effectively counter the ruling AAP on important issues. The grand old party is all set to give its Delhi unit a new chief, with the hope that the change would bring back its lost fortunes in the state. The names of prospective candidates for the crucial post doing the rounds are of Sandeep Dikshit, Devendra Yadav and Alka Lamba. According to sources, the chance for Devendra Yadav to attain the position is seemingly higher. Meanwhile, before the third meeting of the INDIA alliance, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress crossed swords in the national capital over contesting the Lok Sabha elections together in the city. Regarding the possibility of an alliance between them for 2024, representatives from the state units of both parties said the ball was firmly in the respective courts of their national leaders. Following an emergency organisational meeting presided over by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi and organisation general secretary KC Venugopal with Delhi unit leaders. Congress leader Alka Lamba said: “In the three-hour-long meeting, Rahul Gandhi, Kharge ji, KC Venugopal and Deepak Babariaji were present. We have been asked to prepare for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. It has been decided that we will prepare to contest all seven seats. Seven months are left and all the party workers have been asked to prepare for all seven seats.” This immediately received a strong reaction from the AAP, which said that it would have to take a call on whether it should attend the Mumbai meeting in the wake of the comments. The Congress got into damage control mode following the AAP retort and insisted that the meeting did not discuss the issue of alliance with the AAP. Its advice to the AAP was that it should not fall into the trap set by “BJP-leading media”.

FUTURE OF MVA UNCERTAIN AFTER SHARAD PAWAR’S MEETINGS WITH AJIT

Days after Ajit Pawar’s interaction with uncle Sharad Pawar at an industrialist’s house in Pune triggered political speculations over a new alignment in the Maharashtra political scenario, the Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) have respectively started taking stock of all 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. Pawar’s repeated meetings with his nephew, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, despite the latter splitting the NCP last month to align with the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde government, has prompted the Sena (UBT) and the Congress to suspect that Pawar senior’s faction may ally with the BJP in the future, despite his denials of it. Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said that while the NCP chief’s meetings with Mr. Ajit Pawar had certainly been a cause of concern for the future of the MVA alliance, the party top brass would only take decision on the matter. The Congress has already appointed observers to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra to study every segment and submit a report to the party high command. In the lined up strategy, the party has also decided to launch a foot-march (padayatra), which commenced from August 16 and will continue till August 31. On the other hand, Supriya Sule reacted to the reports and said: “No one has offered me anything nor had a conversation with me…You should ask them (Maharashtra Congress leaders) why they are giving such statements. I have no idea. I am personally in touch with the senior Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Gaurav Gogoi but I am not in touch with their leaders in Maharashtra.” The third meeting of the opposition alliance is scheduled to take place in Mumbai in September. However, Sharad Pawar said: “The INDIA’s meeting will happen in Mumbai and we will successfully plan it. We will figure out the strategy to fight the BJP, who are dividing communities and people.”

SAMAJWADI PARTY REJIGS EXECUTIVE COUNCIL WITH EYE ON SOCIAL JUSTICE

In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party has commenced its strategic preparations for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In a bid to galvanise the party cadres and to revive the politics of social justice, the SP reframed its Uttar Pradesh state executive committee and has ceded more space to non-Yadav OBC leaders. In the newly constituted 182-member state executive, which was dissolved after the party failed to defeat the BJP in the last year’s Assembly elections, 30 of the 70 office-bearers belong to non-Yadav OBCs, while only five Yadav leaders have made the cut. Even the number of Scheduled Castes, 8, is more than that of Yadavs. While there are five Brahmin leaders among the office bearers, two are from the Scheduled Tribes. The party has also inducted 12 Muslims in the list, a prominent representation, which is seen as an attempt to seize the drifting of Muslim votes to other parties. The state executive committee comprises 70 office-bearers, 48 members and 62 special invited members. The team of office bearers led by party state unit president Naresh Uttam Patel, has four vice-presidents, three general secretaries, 61 secretaries, and one treasurer. However, party insiders called Yadav’s new team signaling an attempt to woo the Other Backward Case (OBC) and Schedule Caste (SC) voters. Besides, they called it an attempt to handle a fresh poll tactic of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is on a spree to woo OBC and SC voters.

KCR PITCHES ‘TELANGANA WELFARE STATE MODEL’ FOR NATIONAL ROLE BID

The BRS is emphasizing more on the preparation for crucial assembly elections in Telangana. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has faith that his party will succeed in winning the support of women, farmers, and marginalised groups with various welfare schemes that can be replicated at the national level. KCR has showcased himself as a pro-farmer leader and reached out to people by pitching the “Telangana good governance model” in a bid to venture into national politics, and effectively take on both the BJP and Congress. KCR has also waived farm loans up to Rs 1 lakh in the state, saying that he was freeing farmers of their debt burden on the occasion of Independence Day. The Chief Minister said farmers who took loan of less than Rs 1 lakh will be freed from debt burden and has ordered to repay loan amount upto Rs 99,999 to the banks. Echoing the slogan ‘What Telangana Does, Nation Follows’, CM KCR said that the state made giant strides in a short span due to the BRS government’s vision, commitment and intellectual support.

CONGRESS SUPPORTS CPI(M) CANDIDATES FOR TRIPURA BYPOLLS ON SEPT 5

A by-election for two assembly seats in Tripura seems to have caused rift in the INDIA alliance due to CPI-M’s unilateral candidate announcement. However, CPI(M) candidates Kaushik Chanda, contesting from Dhanpur, and Mizan Hussain from Boxanagar, both have submitted nomination papers for the September 5 by-election. Mizan is the son of CPI(M) leader Samsul Haque, whose death has led to the by-election at Boxanagar. Meanwhile, Congress has formally announced support for CPI(M) candidates. Congress contested the February 2023 assembly elections in alliance with the CPI(M)-led Left Front. On the other hand, BJP announced the names of its candidates for by-elections in two assembly constituencies, Boxanagar and Dhanpur, both in Tripura’s Sepahijala district. Tafajjal Hussain’s nomination in Boxanagar was expected, but the selection of Bindu Debnath from Dhanpur came as a surprise, since senior party leaders, namely former Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarman, state BJP president Rajiv Bhattacharjee and former MLA Subal Bhowmik, have been the aspirants. (IPA Service)