The Congress’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will continue its campaign efforts in poll-bound Rajasthan with her second visit to the state in less than a week, this time to the northern Jhunjhunu district Wednesday, where she is set to make a “major pledge” of her party for women. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, in a post on X, said Tuesday: “Special information for the women of Rajasthan. Tomorrow, Priyanka Gandhi will make some big announcements for the homemakers of Rajasthan in Jhunjhunu.” In Jhunjhunu, Priyanka will also unveil a statue of former Union minister Sisram Ola, whose son Brijendra Singh Ola is the Jhunjhunu MLA and the state transport minister, and has been renominated as the party’s candidate from the seat. Priyanka will later address the rally to be attended by Gehlot, Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra and former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot. In 2018, the Congress had won four of the seven seats in Jhunjhunu district, with the BJP and BSP winning two and one, respectively. On October 20, Priyanka had addressed a rally in eastern Rajasthan’s Dausa district, whose focus was the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), which aims to bring adequate water to 13 of the state’s eastern districts. The Congress is targeting the BJP dispensation over the ERCP for allegedly “backtracking” on its promise to declare the ERCP a national project so its cost – an estimated Rs 40,000 crore – could be shared between the Centre and the state. In Maharashtra, the agitation for the Maratha reservation is going to escalate with activist Manoj Jarange-Patil set to begin a hunger strike on Wednesday as his deadline of October 24 for the state government led by the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde), BJP and Ajit Pawar’s NCP to announce quota for the Maratha community expired. On Sunday, Jarange-Patil, the Jalna-based activist, who became the face of the agitation after he sat on hunger strike last month, had warned of intensifying the stir if the demand is not met by Tuesday. Announcing that he would start fast-unto-death again and will not allow any politician to enter the villages, Patil had said, “No political leader will be allowed in our villages until the issue of Maratha community is resolved. If you want to come to our villages, come with the reservation. If not, we will not even let you cross the village borders.” Jarange-Patil had been visiting different parts of the state and addressing rallies ahead of his October 24 deadline. Though the government, including CM Eknath Shinde, has met with the activist and said it is “committed to ensuring reservation for the Maratha community”, it has effectively missed Jarange-Patil’s deadline. “During this hunger strike, I will not take any medicine nor will avail of any medical assistance. I will give up food and water as well,” Jarange-Patil had said at a press conference in Jalna district’s Antarwali Saraati village on Sunday. “From October 28, this hunger strike will be converted into a fast unto death,” the activist had added. He had previously fasted for 17 days over the quota demand before Shinde and other leaders held talks with him. Amid the Maratha quota stir, the Maharashtra government Monday strongly supported a caste survey in the state, with two Deputy CMs — Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP and Ajit Pawar — pitching for a caste survey similar to Bihar’s but one which stands the scrutiny of courts, as Alok Deshpande reported. The Maharashtra government is putting out fires on multiple fronts with the Shinde Sena and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena expected to submit written replies to the disqualification petitions, submitted by them against each other, to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar Wednesday. The Supreme Court had earlier come down hard on Narwekar over the delay in deciding the pleas. The two Sena factions have been feuding for more than a year over the party’s split. The Speaker will conduct the next hearing on the matter on October 26. Back in Delhi, the Law Commission will on Wednesday present a roadmap on “one nation, one election” to the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The panel has invited the Law Commission to seek its views on how simultaneous polls can be held in the country. The Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi-led Law Commission is working on a formula to synchronise all Assembly polls by extending or reducing the tenure so that these elections can be held along with Lok Sabha polls 2029 onwards. The Kovind panel had previously sought the views of political parties at its first meeting last month. However, there are also several constitutional hurdles in the way in addition to the logistical challenges, like the vastly increased required number of electronic voting machines (EVMs), of holding synchronised polls. In Jammu and Kashmir, the administration will Wednesday kick off a week-long initiative to hold “public darbars” across the Union Territory’s 20 districts to hear the public’s grievances. According to an order issued by the General Administration Department’s commissioner secretary Sanjeev Verma, the deputy commissioners would be responsible for organising the sessions, beginning with “darbars” in Shopian, Kupwara and Ramban districts. — With PTI inputs
