Buzz over election dates as Opposition parties gear up for Lok Sabha polls

Political parties are waiting for the Election Commission to announce the dates for the biggest political battle in the world’s largest democracy

New Delhi: If you go by the schedule of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, just 37 days are left for the all-important General Election to start. The polling for last election began on April 11.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is out on his second political “yatra” to counter BJP’s influence and sway. (ANI)

All political parties are waiting for the Election Commission (EC) to announce the dates for the biggest political battle in the world’s largest democracy. Political parties, both ruling BJP and the Opposition satraps are trying to make the most out of these remaining weeks.

BRS ties up with BSP

In Telangana, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, or BRS, has announced a tie up with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to fight the polls together in Telangana. BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao, whose government lost to the Congress in November last year, met the BSP’s state unit chief RS Praveen Kumar here. Both sides have announced that the seat adjustment would be done after consulting BSP supremo Mayawati.

KCR plans to woo back the powerful Madiga community, who are Scheduled Castes in Telangana and some other south Indian states with the help of BSP. In the last assembly polls, the Congress had managed to get sizable Madiga votes highlighting KCR’s unfulfilled promises.

But BSP’s strength has considerably eroded in the southern state. In the November assembly poll, BSP fought in 107 of 119 seats. Lost in all constituencies and managed to get 1.3% votes.

TMC vs a High Court judge

In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress has launched volley of attacks against a Calcutta High Court judge, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who submitted his resignation and announced he will join BJP and will try to fight election. In the past few years, Gangpadhyay handled cases involving the Trinamool-led West Bengal government and passed a number of orders against TMC.

Trinamool announced it will file a writ petition to the Supreme Court against the “political orders”. Of late, the TMC has come under immense pressure from the courts and finds this as an opportunity to raise its voice. While Gangopadhyay labelled TMC as a “bad party” and vowed to defeat it, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh argued that “85% of Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s judgments were overturned by the Division Bench or the Supreme Court; he is a black sheep in the judicial system. TMC leaders also claimed Gangopadhyay’s entire tenure reeked of political bias and he had no credibility to deliver judgements.

Rahul Gandhi’s poll promises

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is on his second ‘yatra’, started announcing some of the promises that the party will have in its manifesto. On Tuesday, Gandhi labelled exam paper leaks as “a curse” and said, “By combining the suggestions received from everyone, Congress is preparing a concrete and foolproof plan to make the recruitment process of youth transparent, and very soon we will present our vision before you.”

Gandhi also tweeted, “Now degrees will be respected, problems will be solved and everyone will get work. Congress will put the command of the future in your hands, a big announcement will be made tomorrow.”

The Congress’ manifesto panel finalised its draft on Tuesday, and it would be handed over to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday.

Gandhi, however, is not waiting for its formal release. Instead, he will declare key ideas in bits and pieces, just as he did in assembly polls.

To be sure, manifesto is the least problem for him in this Lok Sabha election! His real challenges include proving his capabilities as a vote catcher and to ensure the Congress gets at least a respectable number of seats.