Today in Politics: PM Modi in Jharkhand, Bihar; Kharge and Priyanka in Karnataka

At a ‘Maha Vijay Sankalp Sabha’ at the Tata College Ground in Chaibasa, the PM on Friday again said that the Congress would allegedly distribute property should it come to power.

“The Congress wants to distribute your property to those indulging in ‘vote jihad’ but Modi will ensure that the poor, Dalit and tribals have the first right on the country’s property. No force on earth would be allowed to change or alter our Constitution,” he said.

After the two rallies in Jharkhand, the PM will be in Bihar for a public rally in Darbhanga at 3:30 pm. The BJP’s Gopalji Thakur who had won the seat in 2019 is contesting again.

Darbhanga had featured prominently in the news in August last year when a proposed All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the town had become the centre of a war of words between the Opposition and the BJP.

Modi mentioned the Darbhanga AIIMS while addressing a meeting in West Bengal via video conference. Hitting out at the PM, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said, “What kind of invisible development politics is this where the Union Health Ministry has not yet finalised the site for AIIMS and the PM is saying that AIIMS has been opened there?”

Tejashwi claimed the state government had allotted 151 acres of greenfield land for the project and the state Cabinet had also approved Rs 300 crore for landfilling. “We engage in constructive and development-oriented politics … It is unfortunate that the Centre has not approved the project,” said Yadav, who held the health portfolio then and was deputy Chief Minister before Nitish Kumar made the switch back to the BJP.

A swift response came from Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya who asked why the Mahagathbandan government which was then in power had changed the site of the proposed AIIMS.

“The Modi government does not do politics in matters of development but does development politics. Our intention is clear,” Mandaviya said, reminding Tejashwi that the Bihar government had given land for the site first on November 3, 2021, after the Modi government sanctioned the project on September 19, 2020, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,264 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana. “As per the rule, the expert committee inspected the second site and did not find it suitable. I want to know why the land site was changed and for whom?” asked the Union minister.

With Modi visiting Darbhanga the issue is likely to be brought up again by Yadav and the RJD. Whether the PM will speak of it also remains to be seen.

Vandita Mishra writes that voters too frame development and education as the two main challenges in the area. “In Darbhanga town, once touted as Mithila region’s education and medical hub, the home of lakes and rivers, they point to the many congealed crises — from an AIIMS that was announced, but remains on paper, and a new airport with a too-small capacity, to a university brought to a halt by the tug of war between the governor and the powerful bureaucracy, the drying up of rivers and the failure of most governance initiatives to make the last mile connectivity,” she writes.

Union Home minister Amit Shah will attend a programme in North Goa, which votes on May 7. Sitting North Goa MP and Union Minister Shripad Naik is hoping to win a sixth term from the seat on the BJP ticket, while former Union Law minister Ramakant Khalap hopes to clench the seat.

Congress programmes and rallies

Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will be in his home state of Karnataka for a rally in Gulbarga, the constituency he represented in the 2009 and 2014 polls but lost in the 2019 parliamentary elections. Gulbarga votes in the third phase on May 7.

This time, Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Dodammane is in the fray from the seat.

Doddamani is tasked with retaking Gulbarga. In 2019, the party lost from the constituency for only the third time since 1952. It was also Kharge’s first electoral defeat in his 60-year political career. Doddamani had been working behind the scenes so far, managing the political and financial affairs of Kharge and, as a result, he is known to have the ear of Congress leaders when it comes to local politics. He especially managed Kharge’s matters in the erstwhile Assembly segment of Gurmitkal.

AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will also be in Karnataka, addressing programmes at Davangere and Haveri constituencies. Karnataka is a decisive state this election, where the Congress hopes to do well, riding on its range of welfare schemes and tapping into its traditional base in the state. The BJP had won 25 of the 29 seats of the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

She is set to attend a rally at Banaskantha in Gujarat as well. Banaskantha is the only Lok Sabha constituency among the 26 in Gujarat where the Congress and the BJP have pitted two women against each other. Here, the BJP’s Rekha Chaudhary will take on the Congress’ Geniben Thakor. The state votes in a single phase on May 7.

In Odisha

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is scheduled to address four rallies in Koraput, Nabarangpur, Rayagada and Paralakhemundi. These seats vote in the fourth phase on May 13.

Odisha will see simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state.

This time, Patnaik is contestesting from Kantabanji, besides his traditional bastion of Hinjili, in the Assembly elections.

Party insiders say Patnaik picking a second seat in the western part of the state is aimed to counter the BJP’s growth in the region. As compared to the coastal and southern regions, the BJD, leaders say, is “relatively weak” in the western parts, and Patnaik’s decision is meant to highlight his commitment to the region, which comprises five Lok Sabha seats and 35 assembly segments. Kantabanji falls under the Balangir Lok Sabha segment. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and BJP were looking at an alliance but that never materialised.

— With PTI inputs