Editors Pick
Once bitter political and ideological rivals, the CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) have of late mended fences. Now CPI(M) leadership will have All India Students’ Association (AISA), the students wing of CPI(M-L) together with it in an agitation on education and youth issues in West Bengal.
Three Lok Sabha MPs of the National Congress Progressive Initiative (NCPI) on Tuesday skipped the NDA parliamentary party’s weekly Mangal Milan meeting for the second time, bringing to the fore apparent differences within the 20-member breakaway Trinamool Congress (TMC) faction over its proximity to the BJP-led alliance.
Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) founder Prashant Kishor scripted a major political upset in Bihar by defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the Bankipur Assembly byelection, a constituency represented for five consecutive terms by the BJP’s national president Nitin Nabin. The BJP retained Manjalpur in Gujarat while the Congress held on to Madhya Pradesh’s Datia in other Assembly byelections.
India won the Women’s Cricket World Cup for the first time with a 52-run victory over South Africa on Sunday.
Predominance of caste system has been stated to be the bane of Bihar, but it’s forthcoming election is witnessing regional allies of BJP and Congress getting a lion’s share of seats lest the caste equation go awry. Keenly aware of the deciding role of caste in voting behaviour, the leadership of both the national level parties have left the constituencies reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates to the regional allies.
Former Indian cricket captain and the Congress government’s MLC nominee, Md Azharuddin, is likely to be inducted into the state Cabinet led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, in a move seen as politically significant ahead of the Jubilee Hills byelection.
The Opposition Mahagathbandhan on Tuesday released its manifesto for the Bihar Assembly polls, promising a government job to one member of every family, restoration of the old pension scheme, 200 units of free power to each household, lift ban on toddy and a monthly allowance of Rs.2,500 under Mai Bahin Yojna for women. The NDA alliance termed the manifesto a “bundle of lies”.
The principal rival fronts in Bihar have finally announced incumbent Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav as their respective chief ministerial candidates after weeks of speculation and haggling. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), around the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Janata Dal (United) axis, and the Mahagatbandhan, or Grand Alliance, around the Indian National Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) axis, are caught in their internal games of one-upmanship.
After months of uncertainty and prolonged seat-sharing talks, the Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc on Thursday announced RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, a move seen as a last-ditch effort to project unity and end internal squabbles ahead of the polls.
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