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The Budget Session of Parliament concludes on Saturday, with both Houses set to pass a resolution thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for overseeing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, which was inaugurated on January 22. A long-held ideological goal of the BJP, the temple is expected to play a major role in the party’s messaging for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
With BJP MP Satya Pal Singh and Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Eknath Shinde set to open the discussion on the temple, it has to be seen how the Opposition parties react given that most of the top INDIA bloc leaders, including from the Congress, either stayed away from the event or were silent on the issue.
Besides the resolution, the Rajya Sabha will also take up discussions on the White Paper on the Indian economy before and after the BJP came to power on Saturday, as reported by Liz Mathew. The paper has become a flashpoint between the BJP and the Congress, with the ruling party set to build a narrative for the elections around the 59-page document tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
On Saturday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to arrive in Karnataka to attend a party workers’ meeting, among other events. Shah’s visit comes at a time when the BJP and JD(S) are in the final stages of seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha elections, as reported by Akram M. There remain some questions over which seats members of the JD(S) first family will contest.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) led by Jat leader Jayant Chaudhary, whose grandfather and former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna on Friday, has hinted at a pact with BJP in western UP.
The BJP’s minority cell, meanwhile, will launch a “Quami Chaupal” campaign to reach out to Muslim voters in 23 Lok Sabha constituencies in west UP on Saturday. As the BJP attempts to consolidate its Jat votes by joining hands with the RLD, it will hope that its additional Muslim outreach can dent the chances of the Samajwadi Party (SP) that banks on the votes of Yadavs and Muslims.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s Bihar MLAs are set to attend a two-day workshop starting Saturday in Bodh Gaya so the party can brief its legislators ahead of the Assembly trust vote on Monday. Both the RJD and the BJP have hinted at attempts to poach legislators and have been playing mind games. The war of words is only likely to intensify as the crucial vote approaches.
In Maharashtra, Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange-Patil has threatened to launch another hunger strike from Saturday if the government does not implement its promise to issue Kunbi caste certificates to blood relatives of those who have already established themselves as belonging to the community. The decision comes amid opposition from state minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal, who claims Marathas will be granted “backdoor entry” into the OBC quota.
Meanwhile, in Nagpur, the tribal Gowari Gond community is set to hold a meeting on Saturday and “intensify the stir” if the government does not meet their demands for caste certificates.
On the political front, there is further churn in the Congress Mumbai unit with former state minister and three-time MLA Baba Siddique set to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Ajit Pawar on Saturday.
Siddique’s exit follows the high-profile resignation of Milind Deora, a former Union minister who left to join CM Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. A prominent Muslim face in the party, Siddique’s exit will further deplete the city’s Congress unit ahead of crucial seat-sharing negotiations with its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies for the Lok Sabha polls.
— With PTI inputs
