NEWS

There is a closely knit group within the BJP which looks after each other's interests. The bond is not based on caste, region or community, but the fact that all the members were once in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS. The ABVP club includes BJP president J P Nadda, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, former Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi and many more. Even Dattatreya Hosabale, RSS general secretary, was in the ABVP and later general secretary in charge of it for 15 years. Other luminaries from the organisation include B L Santhosh, the BJP organising secretary. 

The feud within the LJP Friday reached the doors of the Election Commission as MP Chirag Paswan asked the poll body to reject the decisions of the faction led by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras.

Paras and four other MPs had earlier this week ostensibly ousted Paswan from the posts of party president and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha. Paswan has maintained that the Paras-led faction does not have the right under the party constitution to make these moves or the required quorum of the national executive. His faction has removed the 5 MPs for anti-party activities after a national executive meeting.

On Friday, Paswan told the EC that the rebels had no locus standi to make the decisions that they had. He asked that they be barred from using the party symbol.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will discuss restoring Jammu and Kashmir (J&K)’s statehood when he meets mainstream political parties from the region on Thursday — a significant milestone that India’s top leadership has set its eyes on after months of strategising by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, media has learnt from official sources.

The sources, who are privy to the developments, said J&K will be granted statehood soon, as promised in the past by PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah, but there will be no talks on restoring the region’s special status.

On August 5, 2019, the central government withdrew J&K’s special status under the Article 370 and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories — J&K with a legislative assembly and Ladakh without one.

With the security forces continuing to have an upper hand in Jammu & Kashmir and the state appearing to reap a “safety” dividend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a meeting of all political parties in the state on June 24.

While the date could be still under discussion, official sources said the plan for the meeting is under consideration and has been tentatively scheduled. The meeting will be seen as a bid to move the political process in the UT after a gradual easing of restrictions on internet and detention of political leaders. The agenda ahead includes delimitation and holding of elections and the installation of a government.

Home minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation in UT, sparking speculation about a possible political initiative. J&K LG Manoj Sinha attended the review held amid a steady decline in terrorist incidents, local recruitment and infiltration this year: gains which would not have looked possible until recently and which have enabled the administration to push the coverage of central schemes to 90% and vaccination coverage to 76% of the population aged 45 years and above.