With polls in mind, no reaction from Cong to Budget
It is rare for an opposition party to refrain from airing its reviews on the budget presented by the government. Earlier this week, the AAP-led Delhi government presented the budget for the financial year 2024-25, and its main highlight was the Rs 1,000 per month allowance for every woman. The BJP in opposition, termed it a political gimmick just before the Lok Sabha elections. However, the state unit of the Congress did not react to the budget or the new scheme. According to experts, Congress’s strategy is to keep the alliance sacrosanct and prevent giving any opportunity to the BJP to comment on the coalition. Ironically, in the past, Congress had attacked the AAP-led government in various ways and criticised the budgets.
Congress, AAP leaders to jointly campaign
With AAP announcing its candidates for the four seats allocated under the coalition with the bitter rival Congress in Delhi, it is now the latter’s turn to reveal its candidates. According to sources, the Congress list for the three seats can be expected anytime and once announced, both the alliance partners will begin their poll campaign. A coordination committee to campaign for both parties’ candidates is too expected soon. Sources said leaders like Harun Yusuf, Raj Kumar Chauhan, Mukesh Sharma, Jai Kishan and Ramesh Kumar will be part of the committee running the campaign on the ground. At the same time, the IT departments of AAP and Congress will head the social media campaign. The campaign, sources said, will be held under the aegis of the INDIA bloc and leaders from both parties will be on the ground.
Self-proclaimed BJP leader caught off-guard
On a busy day at the party office recently, Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva was intimated by one of his party cadres that some local party leader in outer Delhi has erected banners in his area announcing himself as the district vice-president. Surprised with the information, Sachdeva remarked, “How could he do that without the party’s permission?”. Later he directed the partymen to get the banners removed. Who the leader was and what action was taken is still unknown, but one thing that seems to be certain is that the election fever has gripped the city, and leaders are trying various ways to attract attention.
Contributed by Anup Verma, Ashish Srivastava , Ujwal Jalali