India Narrative

The first two of the seven phases of elections in Uttar Pradesh are expected to set the tone. While it's a do- or- die for the  Samajwadi Party, stakes could not have been higher for the BJP. The UP polls will also test the popularity of the BJP and the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi after he announced the repeal of the contentious farm laws. If BJP wins UP it would not only put the party in an invincible position but would decimate whatever Opposition remains at this juncture. But if the results go against the party, it could have a major impact  and reignite the entire Opposition. For BJP, the first two phases (February 10 and 14) are going to be the most challenging as these would cover the regions hit by 13 month-long farmers' agitation. Also read:    BJP begins carpet bombing in western UP Now, with nearly a week to go for the crucial first phase of highly charged Uttar Pradesh elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to make another foray in western Uttar Pradesh, wh

  The fight for the chief minister’s post between Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Channi came to the centrestage during senior leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the state on Thursday to kick off the party’s poll campaign. On the stage set in Jalandhar for the launching of the virtual campaign rally, in the presence of the senior leadership, the PPCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Channi urged Rahul to declare the CM candidate of the Congress before the elections. Rahul who had come to launch the campaign by outlining the party’s  programme if it comes to power in the state, ended up mostly talking about the need to unitedly fight the election. He was also made to announce that very soon the Congress will declare its Chief Ministerial candidate be it Sidhu or Channi. Sunil Jakhar's name was not mentioned although until now the party had been saying that the election will be fought under the joint leadership of Sidhu, Chan

The decision of the Shiromani Akali Dal to field Bikramjit Singh Majithia against his arch foe and Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu in the Amritsar (East) assembly constituency has electrified the election campaign in the state. While Majithia will contest from the Amritsar (East) constituency, he is playing it safe also contesting from his pocket borough Majitha in the assembly election. Majithia is the brother-in-law of Sukhbir Singh Badal and there is no dearth of resources at his command for fighting the poll campaign.  The rivalry between Sidhu and the 45-year-old Majithia seems to go beyond politics as the personal animosity between the two young leaders surfaces very frequently. Apart from issuing public statements against each other, the duo have engaged in wordy duels on the floor of the Punjab assembly.  Sidhu has been accusing Majithia of being neck-deep in the drug trade and has openly been stating that he should be put behind bars for life. Sidhu has been criti

 The Congress party has not been able to get rid of dynastic politics as is evident from the allotment of tickets for the forthcoming Punjab Assembly elections. Almost all the ruling political families which had found representation in the successive Congress governments have again managed to get party tickets for their relatives to contest the assembly elections. There is considerable heartburn over the issue among genuine party workers who toiled for the party all these years and were expecting to contest in the polls as Congress candidates. Be it Navjot Singh Sidhu Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president, Sunil Jakkhar former PPCC president, Lal Singh former minister, Ravneet Bittu sitting MP and grandson of former Punjab Chief Minister the late Beant Singh, or Rajinder Kaur Bhattal former Chief Minister, all have managed to get their relatives tickets to contest as Congress candidates. In violation of the much propagated one-family one-ticket norm, the party has allotted

  A political analyst while talking about the exodus of the Gen-next from Congress remarked "ideological fidelity is an oxymoron."  Over a period of time, a host of Congress leaders, who once strutted around flaunting the badge of "secularism" have switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party, which they once described as "the party which practises politics of hate."  After Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasad, another Gandhi loyalist, RPN Singh quit the Congress to join the BJP. Singh's shifting allegiance apparently was being viewed as a personal jolt to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Rahul Gandhi. Incidentally, RPN Singh's name also featured in the Congress' star campaigner list released 48 hours back.  If RPN's entry came as a major boost for the BJP, it has put a huge question mark on the style of functioning within the Congress. There are whispers and murmurs in the Congress corridor that the clan-Sonia-Rahul-Priyanka was "not letting th

  Eastern Uttar Pradesh also called Purvanchal is like a chameleon. It keeps changing its colour. In 2007, Purvanchal changed to Mayawati's blue, in 2012 to Samajwdi's red and in 2017 it embraced BJP's saffron. " In 2017 of the 164 seats, BJP along with its ally Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) demolished the Opposition by winning 115 seats in the region. Even as the BJP looks poised to retain its grip in eastern UP, recent exodus of the OBC leaders from the party has somewhat shaken the saffron caste cauldron. A host of OBC leaders including Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chouhan (Nonia) and Dharam Singh Saini  and the SBSP joined hands with the Samajwadi Party. The SP also stitched up alliances with smaller backward outfits like Janvadi Party(Socialist) and Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) led by Krishna Patel. The SBSP being viewed as the emerging Dalit brigade holds sway over nearly 18 per cent of the Rajbhar community in eastern UP. With Janvadi Party in i

  The Bharatiya Janata Party, in this election season during the third wave of COVID-19 in the country, is fully prepared to reach out to a large number of voters in Uttar Pradesh virtually through social media, said state social media head Ankit Chandel. The Election Commission of India has imposed restrictions on holding physical rallies due to the ongoing third wave of COVID-19. However, the parties have been allowed to hold virtual rallies and door-to-door campaigns in the poll-bound states. Speaking to ANI, Chandel said, "We are preparing for the virtual rallies. Planning for the same is underway. The virtual rallies will begin at the end of this month." The social media head informed that the training for the virtual rallies had begun during the second wave in the country itself in 2021. "The training for the virtual rallies was given during the second wave of COVID-19. We had conducted three big rallies in which national president JP Nadda, Narendra Singh Tomar an

  Punjab Pradesh Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu has failed in his attempt to keep out tainted leaders from getting tickets to contest  the state assembly elections as the names of several party candidates announced by the party in its first list are either facing charges of corruption or are allegedly involved in scams. However, all these tainted candidates deny the allegations levelled against them. Sham Sundar Arora, in the poll fray from Hoshiarpur, faced allegations of selling government land worth several crores to a private party at a throwaway price. He was at the time the Industries minister in the Captain Amarinder Singh government. He was dropped from the cabinet by the new incumbent Charanjit Singh Channi. Former minister Balbir Sidhu contesting from Mohali has been accused of grabbing government land in villages besides the tiles scandal. Navtej Cheema fielded from Sultanpur Lodhi, too, is a tainted name as he was accused of misappropriating the funds of a religious