The big news of the day has finally answered the million dollar question. BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi will be contesting from Varanasi. Sitting BJP Varanasi MP, 80 year old Murali Manohar Joshi can take a walk……to Kanpur.
Now, where will Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) pitch Arvind Kejriwal from? They had said they were ready to pitch him from anywhere in Gujarat against Modi.
Is this what led to this decision by the BJP? Or is it because Modi’s saffron connection is expected to resonate with the people in the temple city of Varanasi and act as a catalyst to strengthen BJP’s prospects in the largest state of India – Uttar Pradesh?
Talking about strength, small cracks are developing within BJP!!! Thanks to former BSR Congress chief B. Sriramulu who was re-inducted into the party yesterday.
BJP leader Sushma Swaraj is pretty upset about it and had tweeted that he was brought back despite her stiff opposition. Now, veteran BJP leader Arun Jaitley has slammed her saying that leaders must not divert from larger issues.
BY the way, who is Sriramulu? He is a close acquaintance of former minister and jailed mining baron Janardhan Reddy. Sushma was once upon a time very close to both of them but since the scam surfaced, she has distanced herself. Sriramulu was earlier with BJP but had quit and floated BSR Congress. He did pretty well for himself in the last Assembly elections held in Karnataka in 2013 by winning four seats – two from Bellary. Now, he has been given Bellary to contest from, which was earlier Sushma’s constituency.
Sushma ji, isn’t politics all about calculations. Wouldn’t you know it better? Can’t you see with Sriramulu back in BJP, the party can now expect to win at least five constituencies from the state and will have a stronger hold? Your opposing his induction on morale grounds is doing nothing to strengthen the party, except than to make people say, Ah! BJP respects and stands by senior leaders. But is this the need of the moment? Swayam vichar kijeyea!
In another calculative move, Telangana Rashra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrashekhara Rao has ruled out an alliance with Congress. When the Telangana Bill was under consideration, he had promised Congress that his party would merge with them. Once the state was formed, he doesn’t seem to be in a mood to do so. If the merger had happened, Congress could have hoped to have a stronghold in the state. Finally, some one has got the better of Congress.
Where every move is calculated, there is a person who counters it – cricketer-turned politician Navjot Singh Siddhu. He has decided to give up his Amritsar seat for Arun Jaitely. He happily made way for his mentor because he does not believe in give and take. And no, he does not want to contest from anywhere else. Guess, being India’s own laughing Buddha on Comedy Nights with Kapil is working wonders on his soul.
Can a day pass without Kejriwal making some kind of provocative remarks? He has reiterated that the whole development story about Gujarat is a farce and has dared media to show the true story. Reacting to this, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said that Kejriwal was making remarks without any evidence. Looks like Arun Jaitley is determined to react to every remark today!
Going with the flow of daring everyone, Kejrwial has now dared Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for debate on any issue related to Amethi. Wonder what Congress has to say about this?
AAP’s road show in Bangalore passed off without any hindrances. The party members stuck to the route cleared by the police and not untoward incident has been reported so far. And no, no FIR registered so far. Starting his road show from Hebbal in northwest suburb, he moved along the designated areas along with former Infosys Chief Financial Officer (CFO) V. Balakrishnan, who will be contesting from Bangalore Central. Also present were Nina Nayak who will be contesting from Bangalore South and Babu Mathew from Bangalore North.
In another development, against a case field by senior advocate and Union telecom minister Kapil Sibal’s son Amit Sibal, a Delhi court has fined Kejriwal and AAP leader Manish Sisodia INR 2500 each. Amit had filed a defamatory suit against Kejrwial for the statement he made that Vodafone had received favorable treatment from the government due to nepotism arising from the relationship between the telecom company’s counsel Amit and his father Kapil Sibal.
In Goa, AAP members held peaceful protests against casino tourism. They alleged that Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was against casinos but once he came to power he has done nothing to move them out.
In the sixth list released by AAP today, Shazia Ilmi will contest from Ghaziabad and will be taking on Congress leader Raj Babar. She had earlier refused to contest from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh against Sonia Gandhi.
While AAP is emerging as a fiery party and BJP as a calculative one, Rahul Gandhi seems to be oblivious of everything around him. He recently rubbished the poll survey as a joke and said that there is no way Modi will become the Prime Minster. Iska confidence ka koi jawab nahi!
Meanwhile Janata Dal (United) has released its first list of candidates. Former bureaucrat K.P. Ramaiah from Sasaram in Bihar will take on Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar and Sharad Yadav will contest from Madhepura. JD(U) will be contesting 38 out of 40 seats in Bihar in alliance with Communist Party of India (CPI).
Amid all these announcements, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has made a statement, “I congratulate Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa for understanding her limits and giving up her dreams of becoming the Prime Minister.” Now, Chidambaram, wait for tomorrow and see what she has to say. He also appealed to DMK chief M. Karunanidh to announce that he will not support BJP at the Centre. Arrey uski maarzi! He will support whoever he wants.
Is this how mad the politics can get? No, in India, it can get madder. Stay tuned with us as we keep a tab of the madness.
Related Information
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