The UPA government has decided to give reservation to Jats in nine northern States. The reservation to Jats, who will now be part of the OBC category, in government jobs is expected to help the Congress’s electoral prospects in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, however, it could have repercussions among other OBCs whose share will now shrink.
The detention of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal in Radhanpur town in Gujarat sparked off street clashes between AAP and Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Delhi, Lucknow and in an area near Kutch district. The Gujarat Police had briefly detained Mr. Kejriwal for not taking permission to hold a road show.
Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing critique on Gujarat’s model of development, in a gathering in Gandhidham. Alleging that that in Mundra the Adani Group paid only Rs 90,000 per acre for land the market rate of which was between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore.
Both, Aaj Tak and AAP spokesperson clarified after a video showing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal asking a TV news anchor to play up particular parts of his interview, came under scrutiny. While Aaj Tak alleged that this is merely a concentrated attempt by certain groups to malign Aaj Tak, AAP spokesperson dismissed it as a way of the opposition parties to distract attention away from Gujarat.
The BJP announced that the its Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi while party president Rajnath Singh would be shifted from Ghaziabad to Lucknow. The party leadership succeeded in persuading senior leader and sitting Varanasi MP Murli Manohar Joshi to shift to Kanpur. Similarly, another senior leader from UP ,Lalji Tandon, had to vacate his Lucknow seat for his party chief.
Arvind Kejrival will contest elections form Varanasi against Modi .
BJP on Tuesday named former Army Chief V.K. Singh as its Lok Sabha candidate from Ghaziabad, a seat represented by party chief Rajnath Singh earlier.
MJ Akbar, Senior journalist and author joined the BJP.
Manish Tiwari, current Congress sitting Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, has decided not to contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Senior Congress leader, Mani Shankar Iyer and P. Chidambaram will not be contesting in the upcoming elections. Chidambaram’s ticket has been given to his son instead.
Suresh Kalmadi, former President of Olympic Association of India, and the Chariman of the Commonwealth Games 2010, was not given a ticket. However, Ashok Chavan, involved in the Adrash Society scam, was given a ticket by the Congress party.
In Bihar, the Congress party formalized its alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the Lok Sabha Elections 2014.
The BJP announced a five party alliance in Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections comprising of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK) and Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK).
BJP’s prominent leader Smriti Irani will contest from Amethi against Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) candidate Kumar Biswas.
