Rajya Sabha LOP
Cong gambit to shore up numbers to save post
The switchover of Kesava Rao from the Bharat Rashtra Party to Congress is part of the grand old party’s plan to improve its tally in the Rajya Sabha to retain the post of Leader of the Opposition in the House. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge currently holds the post of LOP.
But after the election of party leaders KC Venugopal and Deepender Singh Hooda to the Lok Sabha in the recent elections and their subsequent resignation from the Rajya Sabha, the Congress strength in the Upper House has come down to 26, just one more than the minimum 25 members required to qualify for the post.
A day after joining Congress, Keshav Rao resigned as a BRS member of the Rajya Sabha. This has caused a vacancy from Telangana, which will be filled up by the Congress given its numbers in the state assembly. According to sources, Congress is trying to get more members from other parties from Telangana and Karnataka to resign and get them elected on its ticket.
BRICS Summit
Russia, China to insist on common currency
BRICS president Russia and its close strategic and business ally China are likely to push for the launch of BRICS currency or the settlement of payments among member countries in their national currencies. Sources said that the payment settlement mechanism will be the central theme of the summit, scheduled to be held in the historic city of Kazan in the Tatarstan state of Russia from October 22-24, 2024.
The five-member BRICS, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, now has now been expanded to ten full members. The five new entrants are Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. About 30 other countries are ready to join the grouping.
The joint statement issued after the meeting of the BRICS foreign ministers on June 10, this year underscored the importance of enhanced use of local currencies in trade and financial transactions between member countries. Russia, in its capacity as the current BRICS president, is likely to insist on the development of an alternative payment mechanism and payment platform to come out of the payment crisis faced by the country due to Western sanctions.
Haryana Assembly Polls
Pradhan asks leaders to reflect on Jat anger
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been engaging with the Haryana BJP’s rank and file after being appointed as the state election in-charge by the party. He has held several meetings in the state. Sources who have attended these meetings said there are no holy cows in Pradhan’s meetings.
The role of every leader and all the strategies deployed by the party’s state leadership are frankly and critically discussed. At one of the meetings, Pradhan said that he keeps hearing that the Jats are upset with the BJP, and added that the Jats were initially upset with Manohar Lal Khattar, but later turned against the entire BJP.
He said the state leadership should contemplate on the mistakes made by the party that resulted in the loss of majority in the last assembly elections and the subsequent defeat in half of the Lok Sabha seats in the state. Pradhan’s plainspeak has taken many in Haryana by surprise as no one dares evaluate Khattar’s performance, let alone criticise it.