Daily Briefing: Latest on Assembly polls; Kejriwal’s trump card; what to watch this weekend; and more
Get your weekend started with the top 5 stories from today's edition of The Indian Express
Top news on November 11, 2023
Good morning!
Get your weekend started with the top 5 stories from today’s edition!
1) The race to the upcoming Assembly elections is heating up. At the centre of this Madhya Pradesh election, and yet not at its centre, is the figure of CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. A restive rank and file, the CM’s over-reliance on bureaucrats, and high command writ – all have contributed to shrinking the incumbent. Read how the saga of BJP vs BJP rests on the uneasy shoulders of Chouhan.
Over to Chhattisgarh, where the state’s first CM, Amit Jogi, who leads the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh-Jogi (JCCJ), has claimed that the ‘next Chhattisgarh government won’t be formed without us.’ In an interview, he also speaks about his party’s chances in the upcoming polls, what sets it apart from its rivals Congress and BJP, and the impact of his father’s legacy.
In Rajasthan, meanwhile, at a time when there is talk of increasing representation for OBCs, the Congress has allocated one-third of its tickets to groups falling in that category. We delve into the Rajasthan Congress list and explore how it compares to the BJP in OBC representation but lags far behind in upper castes.
2) Amidst the Assembly election heat, if there is one other burning question, it is this: Will the ED arrest Kejriwal? If so, when? In her weekly column, Neerja Chowdhury unpacks this and many other questions, including the prospects for the INDIA alliance: “Given how the AAP has trumped the Congress in Delhi since it burst onto the political scene 10 years ago, some top Congress leaders may feel pleased about Kejriwal’s discomfiture today. But what happens to the AAP will have a bearing on their own prospects and the showing that the INDIA alliance makes in the 2024 elections.”
3) In this week’s big picture, we delve into the secret world of family networks, pop-up factories and fail safes that form the backbone of Maharashtra’s underground drug network.
4) In our opinion section, Ashok Gehlot writes on Delhi’s pollution crisis and its link to paddy subsidies In Punjab: “Containing farm fires is critical if people in Delhi have to breathe without serious harm to their health….” Read more.
🍿To watch or not to watch
5) This week, Shubhra Gupta reviews the latest Ishaan Khattar-starrer ‘Pippa’: “A good war film takes you up close to the sights and smells of battle, to the point where you flinch when bullets hit bodies. In this Ishaan Khatter film, what’s meant to exude menace, comes off more like a caricature.”
Until next time,
Rahel Philipose and Gargi Nandwana
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