Today in Politics: With Rahul and Tejashwi set to address a rally together in Bihar, what to watch out for

With this rally, the INDIA alliance of Opposition parties will be looking for some clear political messaging after weeks of bad news. First, the bloc saw the exit of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) late last month, followed by the Rashtriya Lok Dal a couple of weeks later. Then, the seat-sharing talks with the Aam Aadmi Party came a cropper and now, creating another potential problem area for the Opposition bloc, the National Conference has said that it won’t budge from its position of contesting all three Lok Sabha seats in the Kashmir Valley. Meanwhile, there is no sign of a forward movement on seat-sharing talks in Maharashtra and in West Bengal the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has long opted out of any on-the-ground agreement, leaving the Congress and the Left to figure out their tie-up.

Along with their line of attack against the BJP and the NDA, it has to be seen if Rahul and Tejashwi provide clarity on the status of seat sharing in Bihar — the two parties have been allies since 2014 — inject a sense of optimism in the INDIA grouping, and give it a sense of direction. With the BJP National Council meeting scheduled for the weekend, time is of the essence for the Opposition bloc, which has to resolve differences, agree on a strategy and seats, and start mobilising its workers.

Meanwhile, when the Congress yatra enters Chandauli district in UP in the evening, Rahul will be joined by AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, his sister, for the first time during the march.

A ‘Bharat Bandh’ call

As the deadlock continues between farmers and the Centre, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of farm unions that led the 2020-’21 protests, has called a “Bharat Bandh” on Friday citing a host of unmet demands of farmers, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops. Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra has said the party will support the bandh call.

But with the SKM not leading the protests this time, its bandh call is unlikely to have a major effect. Like the Tikait brothers in 2020-’21, the two farmer leaders who have taken the lead this time are Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher and SKM (non-political) convener Jagjit Singh Dallewal. Both of them were at the meeting with the Centre in Chandigarh that ended at 1.30 am. The two sides have decided to continue the dialogue and hold talks again from 6 pm on Sunday.

Modi’s development push

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of development and infrastructure projects worth thousands of crores in Rajasthan and Haryana.

At 11 am, the PM will address the “Viksit Bharat, Viksit Rajasthan” programme via video conferencing. During the programme, he will unveil and launch development projects in Rajasthan worth more than Rs 17,000 crore. The projects are in crucial sectors such as roads, railways, solar energy, power transmission, drinking water, and petroleum and natural gas.

At around 1.15 pm, Modi will head to Rewari in Haryana to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of projects worth more than Rs 9,750 crore in urban transport, health, rail, and tourism. Among the important ones the PM will launch are a Gurugram Metro Rail line, which will cost approximately Rs 5,450 crore, and the country’s 22nd AIIMS in Rewari. The AIIMS will be built for Rs 1,650 crore on 203 acres in the village of Majra Balkhi. It will have 750 beds, a medical college with 100 seats, a nursing college, and 25 superspecialty departments in the outpatient department. Its construction was announced in the 2019-’20 Union Budget.