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Following a series of landslides in Kerala’s Wayanad district, which has so far led to more than 160 deaths and 200 injuries as officials continue rescue operations, former Wayanad MP and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi is set to visit the district along with his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Thursday.
Rahul and Priyanka were previously scheduled to visit Wayanad on Wednesday but put off the trip due to poor weather conditions. The Congress said the two will visit relief camps and a medical college to meet affected families.
In June, after Rahul decided to retain his Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat over Wayanad having won both in the recently concluded polls, the Congress named Priyanka as its candidate for the Kerala seat from where she is set to make her poll debut. In 2019 and 2024, Rahul had won the seat comfortably by margins of 4.31 lakh and 3.64 lakh votes, respectively.
The Congress in Kerala is pinning its hopes mainly on Priyanka’s star value rather than its groundwork in the high-profile constituency to win votes.
After Priyanka was announced as the Congress candidate from Wayanad in June, Rahul had promised to visit it periodically and said that the seat would have “two MPs” including himself if Priyanka is to win in the bypoll, which is yet to be scheduled
SC verdict on quota sub-categorisation
The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Thursday its verdict on the legal question whether a state government is empowered to make a sub-classification of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for reservations in admissions and public jobs. A seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud is likely to deliver the judgment.
The top court on February 8 had reserved its order after hearing submissions from Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocate Kapil Sibal and others.
The states represented by the senior advocates had sought a review of the E V Chinnaiah judgment, which in 2004 had ruled that any sub-classification of SCs would violate Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution. The 2004 verdict had also stated that only Parliament, and not state legislatures, can exclude castes deemed to be SC from the Presidential List under Article 341 of the Constitution.
Protests against state govts, Centre
Several parties are set to stage protests against state governments and the Centre across the country on Thursday.
In Rajasthan, the state Congress unit is holding protests at all district and block levels on August 1 and 2 over the “failures” of the BJP government in providing drinking water, electricity and law and order.
In Bihar, the CPI(ML)-Liberation, a member of the Opposition INDIA bloc, has announced it will intensify its campaign ‘Haq Do, Vaada Nibhaao (Give us our rights, fulfil your promises)’ against the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) government from August 1. The party is demanding a grant of Rs 2 lakh to every poor family, land for the landless, pucca houses for all, 200 units of free electricity, MSP for farmers and employment for youth.
In Kerala, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M), will end its five-day protest on Thursday against the the Union Budget 2024-25 for being “anti-youth” and “against the interests of the state” with a demonstration outside the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram.
Ahead of a nationwide tractor march on August 15, farmers’ groups are set to march to district headquarters across the country on Thursday to burn effigies of the ruling BJP’s leaders over their demands for a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for crops, among others.
– With PTI inputs
