Today in Politics | INDIA to set the ball rolling on seat-sharing; BJP top brass to pick names for MP, Rajasthan polls

While the coordination panel will discuss the joint rallies proposed by the grouping’s campaign committee, leaders of several parties, including the TMC, JD(U), RJD, SP, and AAP, feel seat-sharing is the “central issue” and want the alliance to show urgency in finalising the formula based on which it can be decided, Manoj C G reported.

“We are discussing campaigns, social media and media strategy and all. All that comes once the product is ready. For that, seat-sharing has to be completed quickly,” said a senior Opposition leader.

Sources said the proposal on a campaign plan is to start with organising at least five joint rallies – in Chennai, Guwahati, Delhi, Patna and Nagpur – across the country. The idea, a leader said, was to get top leaders to focus on one issue at each rally. The campaign committee has also proposed joint rallies in Uttar Pradesh besides the poll-bound states.

The INDIA bloc’s joint statement issued at the end of its two-day Mumbai conclave on September 1 stated that the parties will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls together “as far as possible” and that seat-sharing arrangements in different states would be “initiated immediately” and concluded “at the earliest”.

The TMC MP in the 14-member coordination panel, Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is likely to skip the meeting as he has been called by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning in the alleged school jobs scam case.

The TMC has decided not to send any representative to the meeting either, hoping that the INDIA leaders will be reaffirming their joint statement made at the Bengaluru conclave that had spoken against the “brazen misuse of agencies by the BJP government against political rivals”.

The meeting will be attended by K C Venugopal (Congress), T R Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (Uddhav Thackeray Sena), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lallan Singh (JDU), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC), and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP).

The CPI(M) will also skip the meeting as it has not nominated any member to the committee so far. A decision on the party’s representative will be taken at its Politburo meeting scheduled for September 16-17.

The meeting of the INDIA bloc’s coordination panel comes against the backdrop of the Sanatan Dharma controversy triggered by DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin. Most of the Opposition parties are upset with Udhayanidhi’s comments as they believe it unnecessarily gave the BJP the ammunition to attack the alliance and paint it as “anti-Hindu”. Sources said some of the parties could convey their views on the issue at the meeting. The Congress has already distanced itself from Udhayanidhi’s remarks. Mamata has also expressed her disapproval.

Ahead of the meeting, Raghav Chadha said it will have discussion on issues like reaching out to people, planning joint rallies and working out door-to-door campaigns, which will be different for each state.

The BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) will also meet at the party headquarters in the national capital on Wednesday evening to deliberate on the names of its candidates for the Assembly polls, which are due in five states – Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram – in November-December.

The CEC’s members include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president J P Nadda, Union Ministers, Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, and several other senior leaders. It is likely to pick a number of the party’s candidates for the MP and Rajasthan elections. It may even finalise a few candidates for Telangana too.

The BJP leadership had announced its candidates for 39 seats in MP and 21 in Chhattisgarh on August 17, three months ahead of the Assembly elections, which marked a departure from its practice. These were for the seats where the party had lost in the last elections.

Now, to keep the momentum going the CEC would finalise more candidates Wednesday so that the party is well-prepared for the polls which are expected to be a tough fight.

While the BJP is the incumbent in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are ruled by the Congress, and Telangana by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

Delhi CM and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal will be on a three-day visit to Punjab from September 13, during which he will participate in several major events and fulfil some significant poll pledges of his party. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, who will accompany Kejriwal during his visit, is also expected to make a major policy announcement.

On Wednesday, Kejriwal will inaugurate a “School of Eminence” in Amritsar in Mann’s presence as part of the AAP’s guarantee to provide quality education to the children of the state. They will also address a public meeting in Amritsar.

In Haryana, the INLD is holding a meeting in Gurgaon to take stock of the party’s preparations for its rally in Kaithal on September 25, which will mark the birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister late Devi Lal. INLD chief and ex-CM Om Prakash Chautala is likely to attend the meeting to be chaired by his son Abhay Chautala.

Abhay said the INLD has already sent invitations for the Kaithal rally to several INDIA leaders including Nitish Kumar, Farooq Abdullah, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Udhav Thackeray and Jayant Chaudhary, among others. The party would take a call at its Wednesday meeting whether it should also send an invite to Congress or not.

In Gujarat, the state Assembly is set to go digital under the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) project from Wednesday, which will be inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu.

As part of the Centre’s Digital India programme, the Gujarat Assembly will go paperless, becoming the 10th Assembly in the country to do so.
The House, presided over by Speaker Shankar Chaudhary, held an hour-long mock session Tuesday so that the MLAs could get accustomed to its digital way of functioning.

The monsoon session is expected to see some significant discussions, with the BJP government planning to bring some important Bills during it.

(With PTI inputs)