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Setbacks continue for AAP; Opposition seat sharing talks remain troubled
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned AAP leaders from Goa, including the state chief Amit Palekar, for questioning in the excise policy case
There are possibly no parallels to Arvind Kejriwal’s meteoric political rise over the recent decades barring with former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta. Mahanta became the chief minister at 33 after playing a key role in the Assam Agitation against undocumented immigrants from Bangladesh.
Kejriwal quit his cushy job as an Indian Revenue Service officer to become a Right To Information activist before becoming a leading figure in the Anna Hazare-led agitation in 2011. In 2012, Kejriwal formed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has in just a decade managed to form governments in Delhi and Punjab. Kejriwal’s arrest this month over the alleged irregularities in the Delhi excise policy came as a major jolt to AAP as it hoped to expand its base in the April-June Lok Sabha polls
Trouble mounts
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now summoned AAP leaders from Goa, including the state chief Amit Palekar ,for questioning in the excise policy case on Thursday. As the party grappled with troubles, AAP’s lone Lok Sabha member from Punjab Sushil Kumar Rinku and state legislator Sheetal Angural quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) weeks ahead of the general elections.
Rinku accused Punjab’s AAP government of not helping him in developmental works. He said he was impressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah while lauding the Union government for its development initiatives.
Woes in Maharashtra
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) declared its first list of candidates for 17 Lok Sabha seats on Wednesday, sparking tensions within the Opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The Congress urged its ally to reconsider fielding candidates for three seats over which talks were still on.
Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Varsha Gaikwad publicly expressed their displeasure. Sanjay Nirupam, who was hoping to contest the Mumbai North-West seat on Congress ticket, said he would look for other options within a week.
Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the party will contest 22 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats. The seats include Sangli, an erstwhile Congress stronghold, Mumbai North-West, and Mumbai South-Central. Sena’s announcement of the candidates brought to the fore tensions within the MVA, the three-party alliance that ruled Maharashtra between 2019 and 2022 before the Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party suffered splits.
RJD, Congress yet to seal seat pact
A bigger problem for the Opposition escalated in Patna, where the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was formed in June 2023. Purnea and Katihar of Bihar’s 40 seats have emerged as the sticking point in seat-sharing talks between the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress.
RJD is keen to field Bima Bharti, which quit Janata Dal (United) and joined Bihar’s main opposition party, from Purnea. The Congress was expected to field Rajesh Ranjan, aka Pappu Yadav, who joined the party this month, if it gets the seat. Ranjan, a five-time member of Parliament, has represented Purnea thrice.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who met with Congress leader Mukul Wasnik in Delhi, claimed a deal had been finalised and that an announcement would be made within the next few days in Patna.
Omar Abdullah may contest
In Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), National Conference (NC) leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah was likely to contest Lok Sabha polls from Baramulla. The NC’s Baramulla district committee has sent a list of three names to the party leadership for the seat. Abdullah’s name figures on top of the list. NC’s top leaders are believed to be keen on Abdullah’s candidature from Baramulla. Abdullah, who is poised to be a key player in the polls in J&K, was a minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government before he became the chief minister in 2009. He has represented Srinagar in Lok Sabha.
