NEWS

A row erupted in Punjab Congress on Monday after senior leader Sunil Jakhar slammed AICC state in-charge Harish Rawat for purportedly saying the party would go to the 2022 polls under the leadership of state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.

The chatter around Jakhar’s dissent on the day of the swearing-in of Punjab’s first Dalit Sikh chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi forced a clarification from Congress, which denied Rawat had made any such remark and said the party would face the electorate under the collective leadership of Channi and PCC chief Sidhu.

Opposition BJP promptly latched on to Jakhar’s statement to question the Congress claiming credit for installing a Dalit Sikh CM, saying Channi would only be keeping the seat warm for a few months.

Former Karnataka chief minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BS Yediyurappa on Sunday said the Narendra Modi wave would help win Lok Sabha elections easily, but party leaders and workers need to put in the effort to win state elections, retracting his earlier statement that the prime minister cannot alone help win elections.

“Let us not be under some notion. In the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is easy to win the Lok Sabha elections. But by not only stating Modi’s name to win elections, but we should also put in efforts and by helping development works reach the people we should win elections,” Yediyurappa said on Sunday in Davangere, about 260 km from Bengaluru.

The statements come when Karnataka is preparing for several elections at zilla and taluk panchayats levels, MLC polls and other polls in the coming year under chief minister Basavaraj Bommai.

Balurghat MP Sukanta Majumdar was on Monday appointed West Bengal BJP president, replacing Dilip Ghosh who has been elevated as national vice-president of the party.

The appointment of Majumdar is significant as it comes when the party is pitted in a tough battle against CM Mamata Banerjee who is contesting assembly bypolls from Bhabanipur and also amid internal strife in the wake of party MP Babul Supriyo joining TMC.

In another important development, BJP chief J P Nadda appointed Babyrani Maurya as national vice-president. She was the Uttarakhand governor and resigned recently. Both Ghosh and Maurya are OBCs and their appointment is seen as part of BJP’s continued outreach to the community which has the largest chunk of voters in the country.

President of India Ram Nath Kovind was on Sunday accorded a warm send-off at Annadale helipad in Shimla after his four-day sojourn in the state.

Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, speaker of the HP Vidhan Sabha Vipin Singh Parmar, parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Bhardwaj, Shimla mayor Satya Kaundal, Army Commander Lt General, ARTRAC, Raj Shukla, chief secretary Ram Subhag Singh, DGP Sanjay Kundu, Shimla DC Aditya Negi and SP Monika Bhatungru were among those present.

The President of India was also presented a photo album comprising a collection of photographs during the visit by the chief minister.