Today in Politics: After EC sets poll dates, rallies for Rahul Gandhi in MP, Amit Shah in Telangana

Shahdol is a part of the tribal belt in Vindhya Pradesh, where the Congress had a poor showing in the 2018 Assembly polls. The BJP had maintained its hold here, winning 24 of the 30 seats in the region.

Shah will address a public meeting in Telangana’s northern Adilabad district followed by “a convention of intellectuals” in Hyderabad. The BJP has recently stepped up its attacks against the K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS government, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing development projects and addressing rallies in Mahabubnagar and Nizamabad recently. The BJP has only been a minor player in recent elections, winning five seats in the 2014 polls before being reduced to just one seat in 2018.

At his recent rallies in Telangana, PM Modi addressed the issue of delimitation, due in 2026, especially the fear among the southern states of a fall in the number of their Lok Sabha seats proportional to their population. Liz Mathew addressed the significance of this in the context of the Congress’s “jitni aabadi, utna haq (rights proportionate to population)” argument.

As the Congress-National Conference alliance celebrates winning 22 of the 26 seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (Kargil) elections, which the alliance viewed as a referendum on the Centre’s abrogation of Article 370, the Opposition parties in Jammu and Kashmir are set to hold a dharna on Tuesday to demand the “restoration of electoral democracy” in the region. The Congress, NC and Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party, among others, will participate. Naveed Iqbal was on the ground for a series of political reports on what the LAHDC polls meant in a region that last saw elections in 2019, soon after which J&K came under Central rule that continues.

In Punjab, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is set to protest against the Supreme Court’s order to complete the Satluj-Yamuna Link Canal falling in the state’s share, to fulfill water sharing between Punjab and Haryana. SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said the party will “gherao” Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s official residence on Tuesday and accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of acquiescing to the Supreme Court to “satisfy (AAP chief) Arvind Kejriwal, who is keen to release Punjab river water to Haryana and Rajasthan to win support for his party in the forthcoming elections in the two states”.

The conflict between the AAP and Congress is expected to continue, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court having set October 10 as the deadline for a status report on the arrest of Congress MLA Sukhpal Khaira, who was arrested in a 2015 narcotics case last month

Another water-sharing dispute, between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the Cauvery river, will be the subject of a protest led by pro-Kannada activists, who will block the National Highway near the Hoskote toll booth in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

In Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil will address a rally as part of his statewide tour. An “indefinite” hunger strike by Jarange-Patil had forced Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to promise to fulfil the demand for Maratha quota, in turn sparking off protests from OBC groups. Last week, the BJP launched its ‘Jagar Yatra’ through the state’s Vidarbha region, where OBCs are dominant, as the party hopes to contain OBC anger at a time when they are emerging as a centrepiece of the campaigns of all parties.

In Delhi, the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee will hear from BJP South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri on his offensive remarks regarding BSP MP Danish Ali during the recent special session of Parliament. The Committee, headed by BJP MP Sunil Kumar Singh, will gather “oral evidence” from Bidhuri after having received several complaints from MPs.

Watch out for: From the Urdu Press, on the best of news and opinion from Urdu dailies across the country.

(With PTI inputs)