Daily Briefing: Opposition holds rally with Kalpana Soren, Sunita Kejriwal, Supriya Sule speaks on Baramati fight, and more

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With a little over two weeks left before the 17th Lok Sabha elections, the central issue at the Opposition INDIA bloc’s rally on Sunday was the scepticism around the fairness of the election process itself. Convened specifically to protest the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, leader after leader alleged that democracy would be in peril and the Constitution in danger if the Modi government is voted back to power.

With two empty chairs reserved for former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Kejriwal, who are both behind bars, their wives Kalpana Soren and Sunita Kejriwal took the centre stage in more ways than one.

Against the backdrop of the rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a gathering in Meerut, hit out at the Opposition, saying its leaders were trying to “save the corrupt” at a time when he was waging a war against corruption.

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In the latest ‘Idea Exchange’ session, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal speaks on election strategies, the Opposition, electoral bonds, his own candidacy for the Lok Sabha and the state of the economy.

“Whether you have a UCC or not, if a government comes up with a law that says that nobody will have two wives at one and the same time, I think nobody should oppose it.” Read what Prof Faizan Mustafa, India’s leading legal academic, has to say.

From the First Page

As the Opposition casts doubt on the fairness of the upcoming polls, at least three former Chief Election Commissioners (CECs) told The Indian Express that the recent actions of the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate against opposition parties and their leaders have the potential to disrupt the level playing field during elections.

🏏IPL 2024: On Saturday night, Mayank Yadav had Lucknow’s entire Ekanna Stadium on its feet with his pace. Pratyush Raj profiles the fast bowler who grew up idolising Dale Steyn, and was known as ‘helmet pe maarne waale bowler’ in Delhi circuit.

Must Read

After Ajit Pawar shifted his loyalty to the BJP last year, Baramati is witnessing a bitter “Pawar vs Pawar” political slugfest. In an interview, three-time MP from Baramati and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule said, “This is a parliamentary election, it is about policy and development. This is not a family affair … that Ajit Pawar is making it to be.”

In the opinion section, agricultural economist Ashok Gulati argues that Viksit Bharat must also be inclusive Bharat. “Indian agriculture has to move to high-value agriculture (poultry, fishery, dairy, fruits and vegetables) with a value chain approach, from plate to plough, that is, a demand-driven system,” he writes.

Crashes, blowout, leadership shake-up… Over the past few years, the 737 MAX family of Boeing aircraft has run into relentless trouble, raising serious safety concerns and hammering public confidence in the company and the aircraft. Sukalp Sharma explains what’s going on at the American aerospace company.

And Finally

♟️ Vidit Gujrathi is one of the three players from India who will feature in the Candidates chess tournament to challenge China’s Ding Liren for the world title. Shivani Naik and Amit Kamath profile the 29-year-old grandmaster.

Delhi confidential: SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s decision to attend the wedding of ex-BSP MP Afzal Ansari’s daughter sets off rumours of a Lok Sabha poll ticket for Afzal.

🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we speak about the mass Congress exodus in Madhya Pradesh, Pakistan’s rice piracy, and ‘Ram’ contests.

Until tomorrow,

Ayesha Jain and Navmi Krishna