Suspense continues as Congress yet to name LS candidates for Amethi, Rae Bareli

With three days left for filing nominations for the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls, Congress is yet to name its candidates from Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi and Rae Bareli constituencies.

The two seats have been long associated with the Nehru-Gandhi family as Feroze Gandhi, former PMs Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Indira’s son and Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi, former party presidents Sonia and Rahul and Congress stalwart Arun Nehru have all got elected from these two seats.

Congress announces Anand Sharma, Raj Babbar as LS candidates

Anand Sharma, 71, will fight his first Lok Sabha contest from Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra after spending four terms (each term has 6 years) in the Rajya Sabha.

The Congress on Tuesday also fielded former MP Raj Babbar from Gurgaon in Haryana, as it released a list of four candidates, even as party workers waited for the announcement on Amethi and Rae Bareli – the two constituencies in Uttar Pradesh that are closely associated with the Gandhis.

Sharma retired from the Upper House in 2022 and was not renominated by the party. He was one of the key faces of the now defunct G23 group that had sought organisational reforms in the party.

Babbar, who started his political career with the Janata Dal, moved to the Samajwadi Party before joining Congress in 2008. He was a three-term Lok Sabha MP and two-term Rajya Sabha member. A former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief, he was earlier elected to Parliament from Agra and Firozabad seats.

According to party functionaries aware of the details, Babbar’s candidature was backed by former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda amid opposition by another section of party leaders.

Can the Congress revive its fortunes in Andhra Pradesh?

The Congress party’s fortunes dipped in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after its UPA government decided to bifurcate the state. While the people of Andhra Pradesh taught the Congress a lesson for dividing the state, the people of Telangana voted for BRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao for creating their own state.

In his article, Sutanu Guru argues that it is still an uphill task for the Congress under YS Sharmila, daughter of late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy and the sister of current CM Jagan Mohan.

Guru says, “The people of Andhra feel the Congress party betrayed them badly by the unseemly and cynical manner in which it carved out Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh. Not only are people still hurt, but they are outraged by the loss of Hyderabad and the failure of the central government to keep its promise of delivering a special financial package.”

Subramayam Duvvuri is a senior journalist based in Kakinada who also dabbles with psephology. He said that folks in Andhra are very angry with the BJP too.

“But the BJP was never more than a marginal player in the state. It is the Congress that was a formidable force in the state, and it has lost everything. Voters of unified Andhra had preferred the Congress even after the post Emergency Lok Sabha elections as also in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections when the Bofors scam felled the Rajiv Gandhi government. That era is now gone forever”.

SC asks ED to respond to question of timing of Kejri’s arrest

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to respond to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer’s question regarding the timing of the AAP chief’s arrest.

Hearing a plea by Kejriwal against his arrest in the Delhi excise policy case, the apex court observed that liberty is “very exceedingly important”. It asked ED’s lawyer to respond to the query as to why he was arrested just before the Lok Sabha elections.

“Liberty is very exceedingly important you can’t deny that. The last question is with regard to the timing of the arrest, which they (Kejriwal’s lawyer) have pointed out, the timing of the arrest, soon before the general elections,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna told ASG SV Raju.

The court has asked the agency to come prepared with the response on Friday afternoon.

Earlier this month, the Delhi high court upheld Kejriwal’s arrest, saying the agency had no other option as the former was not joining the probe.

“BJP will tear apart the Constitution”

These days, Rahul Gandhi carries a copy of the Indian Constitution whenever he goes to campaign.

Addressing a poll rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind, Gandhi, while holding a copy of the Constitution, said the ongoing Lok Sabha poll is not any normal election, but a fight between two ideologies.

“The poor, STs, OBCs got several rights because of the Constitution which also gave the people MGNREGA, land rights, reservation, and other things,” Gandhi said, according to news agency PTI.

“If the BJP comes to power, it will throw away and tear apart this Constitution”, he said.

Gandhi further said, “The prime minister, Amit Shah (Union home minister) and their MPs have made up their mind that if they get elected, they will tear apart and throw this (Constitution) book. The BJP wants this book to be thrown away and 20-25 billionaires should run the country.”

Delhi Congress gets a new chief

The Congress on Tuesday appointed party’s Punjab unit chief Devender Yadav as the interim president of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect.

It also said that Yadav will continue to work as Punjab All India Congress Committee (AICC) incharge.

This comes two days after former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely resigned on Sunday amid the party’s alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) amid the Lok Sabha elections.

Issuing a statement, Congress said, “Hon’ble Congress President has appointed Shri Devender Yadav as the interim President of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect. He will continue in his role as AICC In-charge for Punjab.”

The Prajwal Revanna sex tape controversy holds dire implications for JD(S)

This is not the first time Prajwal Revanna, the Janata Dal (Secular) member of Parliament (MP) from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka, presently in the eye of a storm regarding his alleged involvement in the obscene videos case, has put the former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s clan in a tight spot.

The alleged sex tapes scandal has intensified the longstanding rift within the Deve Gowda family, further impacting their political standing in Karnataka.