Today in Politics: Another AAP leader behind bars; INDIA vs BJP plays out in courts, states

Singh was arrested in connection with the ED’s money laundering probe linked to the 2021-22 Delhi excise policy case. Sisodia was held in February this year as part of the same case, while Satyendra Jain has been in jail since May 2022 in a separate money laundering case.

Sisodia’s bail hearing, incidentally, will come up in the Supreme Court on Thursday. On Wednesday, the Court asked the ED to explain why “the political party” (AAP), which was allegedly the beneficiary of the excise ‘scam’, has not been made an accused in the money laundering case.

INDIA parties expressed their support for the AAP following Singh’s arrest, with several leaders calling it a tactic to divert attention from the Bihar caste survey report. The BJP warned: “Handcuffs are getting closer to Arvind Kejriwal.”

As INDIA takes on the BJP government over both the action against Singh and the web portal NewsClick, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue with his project-launching spree in poll-bound states. Thursday will see him in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of projects worth Rs 12,000 crore, and in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where projects worth Rs 5,000 crore will be unveiled.

Assembly Elections 2023 | PM Modi to unveil projects worth Rs 5,000 cr in Rajasthan

In the past few days, Modi in his speeches has laid out the broad contours of the BJP’s campaign across states, by making the party rather than local leaders the face – as reported by Vikas Pathak, after covering the PM’s MP rallies – by accusing the Congress of “hating OBCs” and hence him, and by laying down the BJP’s response to the Congress’s call for a caste census.

Earlier, Liz Mathew wrote that the BJP would underline the inclusion of Muslim groups within OBCs, SCs and STs in the Bihar survey. In his speeches on Tuesday, Modi said Rahul Gandhi’s call for “jitni aabadi, utna haq” goes against its claims of being pro-minorities.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. And if Modi’s agenda includes unveiling a statue of tribal icon Rani Durgavati, Priyanka will unveil a statue of another tribal icon, Tantya Mama, at Mohankheda, besides addressing a rally along with state Congress chief Kamal Nath.

This will be Priyanka’s third visit to Madhya Pradesh in recent months, after Jabalpur and Gwalior. The state is witnessing a tough contest, with the BJP seeking to stir the political equations in a bid to retain power by fielding several heavyweights from the Centre in the race, as reported by Liz and Anand Mohan.

With caste back at the heart of the political debate, and BSP chief Mayawati’s intentions unclear, the Congress has decided to make a play for BSP founder Kanshi Ram. On Thursday, it will hold a meeting of its senior state Dalit leaders to finalise the strategy for a ‘Dalit Gaurav Samvad’ programme, starting from the death anniversary of Kanshi Ram on October 9 and ending on November 26, Constitution Day, which will focus on the BSP founder’s ideals.

Maulshree Seth wrote about how the Congress hopes to woo back the Dalit vote in Uttar Pradesh, which once used to be by its side. And that the Congress is not the first to try and appropriate Kanshi Ram, with the Samajwadi Party holding an event on his birth anniversary in March this year.

The Trinamool Congress’s ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest wound down on Tuesday after police intervention at Krishi Bhavan, but party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has promised to lead a march to the Raj Bhawan in Kolkata on Thursday to make its case for the Centre denying funds to the state under the MNREGS.

On Wednesday, the party held protests across West Bengal over the “detention” of Abhishek during Tuesday’s protests in Delhi.

Incidentally, Governor C V Ananda Bose is himself in Delhi, from where he will fly straight to North Bengal to review the flood situation there later in the day.

Abhishek has also said the party will soon relaunch the agitation to demand unpaid MNREGS dues of the state from the Centre in the national capital, this time under West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Down south, the AIADMK and BJP parting seems definite for the near future, though the parties are going the extra mile to ensure conscious uncoupling, wrote Arun Janardhanan.

As its state chief K Annamalai, who precipitated the break-up with his statements, pipes down, all eyes will be on the Tamil Nadu BJP district presidents’ meeting scheduled in Chennai Thursday.

In Karnataka, a BJP “fact-finding committee” consisting of senior party leaders will visit violence-hit Shivamogga town Thursday. There are prohibitory orders in areas of the town due to tension during the Eid Milad procession and alleged incidents of stone-pelting, though the situation is peaceful now.

The BJP team includes its firebrand MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, known for his controversial remarks, and Shivamogga MP B Y Raghavendra.

Karnataka BJP leaders have accused the Congress government of “failure to maintain law and order” over the incident, of tying the hands of police as part of “appeasement politics”, and of trying to make Karnataka “an Islamic state like Kerala and Kashmir”.

The incident followed the alleged display of cutouts of Tipu Sultan and Aurangzeb during an Eid Milan procession.

Watch out for: Data Pack, a column by Anjishnu Das, reading politics through numbers. This week, a primer on the coming Madhya Pradesh elections.

(— with PTI inputs)