Today in politics | Oppn INDIA team in Manipur for first-hand report, from conflict areas to relief camps

Apart from Gogoi, the delegation will include Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Phulo Devi Netam and K Suresh (Congress); Sushmita Dev (TMC); Mahua Maji (JMM); Kanimozhi and D Ravikumar (DMK); Mohammad Faizal (NCP); Jayant Chaudhary (RLD); Manoj Kumar Jha (RJD); N K Premachandran (RSP); T Thirumavalavan (VCK); Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Aneel Prasad Hegde (JD-U); Sandosh Kumar (CPI); A A Rahim (CPI-M); Javed Ali Khan (SP); E T Mohammed Basheer (IUML); Sushil Gupta (AAP); and Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-Uddhav Thackeray).

The PM will be marking the third anniversary of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, on Saturday. As part of this, he will inaugurate the ‘Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam’ at the newly unveiled Bharat Mandapam in Pragati Maidan, Delhi. He will also release the first instalment of funds for the PM SHRI Scheme, to develop schools along lines envisaged by the NEP, as well as release curriculum books translated into 12 Indian languages, as part of the programme.

BJP president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the spearheads of the party’s 2024 poll preparation, will be in election-bound Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, on Saturday.

As Liz Mathew reported on Friday, while Vasundhara Raje, the BJP’s most popular Rajasthan leader, has been waiting in the wings to be declared the CM face, Nadda is likely to reinforce the message of collective leadership in the state. During his visit, Nadda will chair a meeting of the Rajasthan BJP’s core committee, and is expected to discuss formation of election-related committees in the state.

Shah, meanwhile, is slated to visit Bhopal Saturday evening to meet BJP leaders and interact with booth-level workers, in his second visit to MP in three days. As Liz Mathew reported on Friday, while Nadda has been tasked to oversee the Rajasthan elections, Shah has taken charge of MP and Chhattisgarh for the BJP.

“On Sunday, Shah is likely to address a press conference in Bhopal before leaving for Indore,” BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Umashanker Gupta told PTI.

In Indore, Shah will interact with nearly 25,000 booth-level BJP workers – the first such interaction ahead of the polls. He will also visit Janapav Kuti, about 50 km from Indore, a place known as the birthplace of Lord Parshuram.

The Congress is seen to have got off to an early start in MP, with an aggressive Kamal Nath taking charge of the campaign and meeting the BJP head-on, on Hindutva to welfare front, as captured by Anand Mohan J in another report on Friday.

On the other hand, the BJP’s four-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is seen as fighting the fatigue factor, though as Liz Mathew has been reporting, the party is likely to go with him as its face in the elections even while banking on other leaders as reinforcement.

Shah was also slated to visit another poll-bound state, Telangana, on Saturday, but the tour has been put off for now. BJP spokesperson N V Subhash said “unavoidable reasons” had caused the postponement.

A rally to be addressed by Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Kollapur, Telangana, on Sunday, also stands postponed, with the party attributing the same to heavy rains in the state.

In the column Looking Northeast, Esha Roy will explore a deal that offers a real prospect for peace in Nagaland, at a time when the Northeast seems increasingly restive due to the tremors arising from Manipur.

In State Watch, Hamza Khan explores if the BJP’s aggressive campaign against the Congress government in Rajasthan on crimes against women – as a counter to the Opposition’s attack on Manipur — will strike the right note.