Today in Politics: Rahul Gandhi in Chhattisgarh and Bastar; Congress meeting to finalise

This time, by fielding Lakhma, a six-time MLA who now represents the Konta seat, the Congress hopes to retain the seat, which was among the two states in Chhattisgarh the party won in 2019. This will also be a test for the Congress after the shock loss in the Assembly elections last November.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Lakhma said: “After the shock loss in the Assembly elections, the Congress is looking to revive its electoral fortunes in Chhattisgarh in the Lok Sabha polls. It is also hoping to better its 2019 performance, when the party won just 2 of the 11 seats in the state.”

Rahul will then go to Maharashtra to address a public meeting at Sakoli town, which falls under the Bhandara Gondia constituency.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the contest in Bhandara-Gondia constituency was between the BJP’s Sunil Mendhe and the then undivided NCP’s Nana Panchbudhe. Mendhe swept the elections polling 52% of the votes, while Panchbudhe polled 36% of the votes.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole had won the Bhandara-Gondia seat in 2014 on a BJP ticket, defeating senior NCP leader Praful Patel. After Patole resigned and joined the Congress, he was fielded by the party from the Nagpur seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Maharashtra — alongside Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh — is among the states where INDIA alliance partners have been able to work together despite some hiccups along the way.

As per the seat-sharing arrangement, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) will contest 21 of the 48 constituencies in the state. The Congress will contest on 17, while the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) will contest on 10 constituencies.

Apart from Bhandara-Gondia, the Congress will contest on the Nandurbar, Dhule, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalna, Mumbai North Central, Pune, Latur, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ramtek and Mumbai North seats.

Rahul’s appearance in Maharashtra comes a day after his visit to Tamil Nadu, where he campaigned with Chief Minister MK Stalin. Will this camaraderie be seen with his alliance partners in Maharashtra ? This remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, top Congress leaders are scheduled to meet and discuss the party candidates from Punjab, Haryana, Biar and Delhi at a meeting of the Central Election Committee (CEC) that will be held on Saturday evening. The CEC chaired by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to meet at 4 pm on Saturday.

Sources said the meeting will discuss the candidates suggested by the screening committees of Punjab, Haryana and Bihar.

Alongside this, the nomination process for the third phase of the polls, scheduled for May 7, began Friday. The states and union territories included in the third phase are Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Recommended Reading:

As we head into the weekend, a list of our campaign trails and ground reports from seats that are going to polls in phase 1.

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In Madhya Pradesh’s tribal belt, BJP tries to plug health infra gaps with Ayushman Bharat

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Also, do read this piece by Santosh Singh looking at the central role of caste in Bihar electoral politics. He finds that since 2009, at least 17 of Bihar’s 40 Lok Sabha seats have voted for a candidate of the same caste. Eight of these have gone to upper castes, including Rajputs, Bhumihars, Brahmins and Kayasthas.

— With PTI inputs