Today in Politics: Congress to take first steps in LS polls prep, INDIA bloc protest at Jantar Mantar

In context: The Opposition has time and again accused the Centre of stifling its voice in Parliament. The record number of suspensions left the House practically Opposition-less. For example, the Congress, as the largest Opposition party, saw the most suspensions with 41 of its 48 MPs suspended for the session, including its Lok Sabha floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and his deputy Gaurav Gogoi.

In an opinion piece for The Indian Express, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien, who was also among the Rajya Sabha MPs suspended wrote, “A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that the 97 Members of Parliament suspended in Lok Sabha represent nearly 15 crore people, and the 46 MPs suspended in Rajya Sabha represent close to 19 crore people. In other words, the voices of virtually 34 crore people (almost 25 per cent of the population) have been silenced.”

Congress vows to get going

One of the takeaways from the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Delhi on Thursday was the calls from leaders such as Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari for the party to start working on identifying candidates for the parliamentary elections without any delay and sound out the ones certain to be fielded so that they can hit the ground running. They also called on the party to work on crafting its message for the Lok Sabha polls.

“Many leaders said the party should conclude seat-sharing talks with its INDIA partners at the earliest and hit the ground. Showing a sense of urgency, (Congress president Mallikarjun) Kharge told the meeting that the manifesto committee would be set up by Friday,” reports Manoj CG.

It will be interesting to watch which leaders are put in charge of giving shape to the party’s message and focus for the all-important elections.

Crucial NCP meeting

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has invited NCP leaders from all districts of the state for a special meeting in Mumbai on Friday, reports Alok Deshpande. Sharad Pawar, seat-sharing with the BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and the Maratha reservation stir are likely to be discussed at the meeting.

“They (elderly voters) are with him (Sharad Pawar). Though young voters are divided, Sharad Pawar’s influence cannot be overlooked. We are keenly watching and assessing his move as he has not stopped touring the state and meeting people,” a minister in the Ajit camp told Alok.

Will Tejashwi appear before ED?

The Enforcement Directorate has summoned Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Friday for questioning in a land-for-jobs scam. Yadav returned to the state from New Delhi on Thursday and indicated that he might not appear before the ED.

“I have always maintained that it is not the fault of these agencies which are being made to function under so much pressure,” said Yadav. “But I must point out that a prediction I made some time ago has come true. I had said that no sooner than the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were over, these agencies would be back in business and train their guns on Bihar, Jharkhand, and Delhi. And you can see what is happening to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.”

Besides Yadav, the ED has issued summons to his father and Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad, who was the Railway Minister when the alleged scam took place. Prasad has been asked to appear for questioning on December 27. In recent days, the central agency has summoned Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Kejriwal, and now him. The others skipped the questioning, also alleging a political witch-hunt against them.

— With PTI inputs