An Evening to Remember
The iftar hosted by Nasir Hussain, Congress Rajya Sabha MP, who is close to party president Mallikarjun Kharge, was well attended in the national capital. While Kharge was unable to attend due to ill-health, a large number of Congress leaders came to break bread with the genial MP, as did the media. The Congress leaders included Deepender Hooda, Manish Tewari, Rajeev Shukla, Pawan Khera, Ajay Maken, Mukul Wasnik, Deepak Babaria, Avinash Pandey, Pranav Jha, Gurdeep Singh Sappal and Alka Lamba. The talk was upbeat for the Congress is sensing that the BJP is nowhere near the 400-paar mark touted by its leaders. There was the inevitable psephology over kebabs and biryani, with party leaders counting the states where they feel the BJP tally will slip. These include Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Bihar, Delhi to even a few seats in Gujarat. With Mrs Hussain doing the rounds to ensure that all the guests were well looked after, and with the weather playing ball, the evening was a welcome break from the heat of the TV debates during poll season as campaign tales were exchanged along with seat predictions.
The Fishing Expedition
Much is being made on social media over RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s post that shows him eating fish while taking a lunch break during his campaign travels—the fact that he was having a non-vegetarian meal on the day of Chaitra Navratri (9 April), for during this time Hindus who choose to fast avoid onions, garlic and non-vegetarian. The BJP accused him of hurting Hindu sentiments and being a seasonal Sanatani. However, the RJD then claimed that the post was a trap laid out for the BJP for if you look at the date of the meal in the post that accompanied the video, the fish was consumed on 8 April, a day prior to uploading the video. Tejashwi also said that he had uploaded this, waiting for the BJP to bite knowing they would react this way. He told the media, “This was an IQ test for the BJP. I want the elections to be fought on issues like jobs, education and employment. But when I talk about these they don’t bite but when it comes to dharma (religion) they all jump in.” Well, this is one way of playing the game.
As an aside, while talking about seasonal pursuits of politicians, what about Hema Malini’s picture cutting hay in the fields of her constituency that does the rounds every election?
Candidate Buzz
At the time of writing the Congress had not yet announced its candidate from North East Delhi but the buzz was that student activist turned Congressman Kanhaiya Kumar was leading the shortlist. While on paper his candidacy makes sense for he will get the Poorvanchal vote and also match the BJP candidate Manoj Tiwari headline for headline, his candidature does not have the support of the Congress workers who feel that someone from within the Delhi unit should be given this seat. But Kanhaiya is a favourite of Rahul Gandhi and has been at his side through most of the Bharat Jodo Yatra. Watch this space. Also the speculation that Rahul Gandhi would probably contest one of the seats in Uttar Pradesh is fast gaining ground. The buzz within the party is that the seats will be announced post the Kerala election, but having said that Rahul has not been a frequent visitor to either Amethi (less than ten visits in the last five years) or Rae Bareli. Congress leaders however claim that Smirti Irani is not on as strong a wicket as she was five years ago, so the seat should not go unchallenged. Will Rahul take up the challenge?