India mourns CM and former Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar
Chief Minister of Goa and former Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar passed away at the age of 63. Popular as a friendly and genial person, the former IITian Parikkar created his place within BJP and was an early proponent of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.
The central government announced one-day mourning. The Prime Minister, the BJP party President Amit Shah, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with several senior politicians across the political spectrum, joined thousands of common people as they gathered for his final send-off with full military honours.
His untimely demise at a relatively young age has left a political vacuum in the state.
Pramod Sawant to be sworn-in as the next CM of Goa
Clamour for political power had already begun even as the cremation process was underway. Union Minister has been parked since Sunday in Goa and has held extended meetings with senior state party members and allies. Goa Legislative Assembly speaker Pramod Sawant, will to be sworn-in as the next CM. Sudhin Dhavalikar of MGP and Vijay Sardesai of GFP will be sworn-in as the two Deputy Chief Ministers.
Both the BJP and the Congress party are in the process of lobbying support to present majority numbers before the state governor. The BJP with 14 seats is now down to 13 against 15 of the Congress. Both are now actively trying to woo allies and independents to present numbers to claim rights to power in the state.
The state will continue to see political uncertainty irrespective of which party forms the government just three weeks before the country goes to polls.
Priyanka Gandhi launches U.P campaign with a boat ride
The Economic Times reported on the high profile launch of Congress General Secretary and eastern U.P in-charge Priyanka Gandhi’s ‘Ganga ki Beti’ poll campaign in U.P as she took a boat ride on the Ganga from Prayagraj to Varanasi.
Leaving Swaraj Bhavan, her ancestral home Priyanka Gandhi headed for Hanuman Mandir at Prayagraj Sangam before getting on to a special boat to sail towards Varanasi. Along the way, she stopped at several points to meet locals gathered at various ghats to catch a glimpse of the charismatic leader.
Left and Congress fail to come together in Bengal
The poll fight for Bengal just got more interesting. As per PTI, Somen Mitra, state Congress party head, has called off the proposed alliance with the Left. The failure of talks triggered by the Left announcing its list of 25 candidates out of a total 42 seats. Congress party believes it has a stronger base in the state and therefore wanted a higher seat share in the alliance. It will now be an open fight between four major contenders – TMC, BJP, Congress, and the Left.
NPP to fight all 25 seats in North East
Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party (NPP) has announced it will be contesting all 25 seats in the North East including all 14 in Assam. NPP is approaching the polls with the contentious Citizenship Bill and the Inner Line Permit as the main issues. This places BJP in a spot as it plans for a bigger footprint in the North East along with Assam.
