Today in Politics: Maharashtra CM suspense may end as BJP MLAs meet to choose legislature party leader

The BJP has appointed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani as its central observers for the meeting.

“Rupani and Sitharaman would meet the BJP’s elected representatives in Mumbai on Wednesday. Following this meeting, the chosen candidate’s name will be relayed to senior leaders in Delhi. These observers will then announce the elected leader of the BJP, who is set to be the next chief minister,” PTI quoted the BJP functionary as saying.

Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule last week confirmed that the swearing-in ceremony of the Mahayuti government will take place on December 5 evening at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders.

The BJP-led Mahayuti won a landslide victory in the Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Rahul to visit violence-hit Sambhal

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi along with the five other party MPs from Uttar Pradesh will visit Sambhal on Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai said.

Newly elected Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also likely to accompany the delegation, he added.

The party’s general secretary and UP in-charge Avinash Pande will be there too, Rai told PTI.

Curbs under section 163 (power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), were set to expire on last Sunday but have now been extended till December 31.

Sambhal has been in the eye of the storm since November 19, when a Mughal-era mosque was surveyed on court orders following claims that a Harihar temple previously stood at the site.

Violence erupted during a second survey on November 24 as protesters gathered near Shahi Jama Masjid and clashed with security personnel. Four people died and several others were injured in the violence that ensued.

Will MLA Yatnal appear before BJP disciplinary panel?

The BJP Central Disciplinary Committee member secretary Om Pathak has summoned Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal to meet him on Wednesday, party MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi said on Tuesday.

“Om Pathak has called Yatnal to meet him at 11.30 am tomorrow. He will go to meet him alone. We will not go with him. I don’t know where he has been asked to come tomorrow. He will give his reply tomorrow itself,” Jarkiholi told reporters in New Delhi.

Yatnal is known as a strong critic of BJP veteran and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and his family, especially his son and the party’s Karnataka chief B Y Vijayendra. He has often targeted them and demanded that the BJP central leadership check Yediyurappa’s ‘dynasty politics’ in order to fight against the ‘dynasty politics’ of Congress effectively.

Yatnal along with a few senior BJP leaders, including MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, Arvind Limbavali, Mahesh Kumtahalli, Madhu Bangarappa had taken out a month-long anti-Waqf march from Bidar to Chamarajanagar. The march started on November 25 and will conclude on December 25.

– With PTI inputs