NewsDrum Informals: Kuldeep Bishnoi left high and dry

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Kuldeep Bishnoi left high and dry

New Delhi: Kuldeep Bishnoi, whose vote against Congress leader Ajay Maken in the June 2022 Rajya Sabha elections had ensured the victory of BJP-backed candidate Kartikeya Sharma, has now been left high and dry by the saffron party.

Bishnoi was ignored by the BJP for a berth in the Rajya Sabha from Haryana and instead the seat went to former National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma who was declared elected unopposed in the bypoll recently.

Bishnoi is going through a rough patch in his political career. Firstly, he suffered a major setback in the recently held assembly elections when his son Bhavya Bishnoi lost from his family pocket borough Adampur seat to Chander Prakash from the Congress.

Secondly, Bishnoi, who is the patron of the All-India Bishnoi Mahasabha, a social organisation representing the Bishnoi community, had to resign from his post last week.

Bishnoi sent the resignation letter to Peethadheeshwar Swami Ramanand and announced it on social media. He appointed Peethadheeshwar as the new patron and also formed a 29-member panel for conducting the elections of the Bishnoi Mahasabha.

Bishnoi served on the post for 12 years. He was nominated as the patron of the All-India Bishnoi Mahasabha after the demise of his father and former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal.

Following these setbacks, a Congress leader from Haryana was heard saying that 'Karma' has hit Bishnoi for betraying the grand old party.

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'Karra ko hatao' agitation picks pace in J&K Congress

Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra is facing a massive rebellion from his party. Karra, a founder member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was appointed the J&K Congress chief just ahead of the assembly elections in the Union Territory in October.

However, his tenure saw the Congress registering it's worst ever performance from the Jammu region despite having an alliance with the National Conference. The Congress nearly pulled down the alliance but for a stupendous performance by the NC that won 42 out of the total 90 seats in the assembly elections. The Congress bagged six while the BJP won 29 seats.

Karra has proven to be an ineffective and a poor leader. His style of functioning has further escalated the infighting within the J&K Congress. A delegation of senior leaders from the Union Territory recently met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal demanding his immediate removal from the post. They have argued his continuation will cause massive damage to the Congress.

A section of the Jammu and Kashmir Congress had also planned a self-immolation agitation to save the party. Titled 'Congress ko bachav, khud ko jalaav', the protestors have decided to agitate in front of the Congress offices in Srinagar and Jammu in coming days. 

They have also selected some innovative slogans for the agitation. These are: 'Congress ko bachao, khud ko jalao', 'Congress ko bachao, Karra ko hatao', 'Congress ko bachana hai, corruption free karana hai', 'Leaderon ki izzat ko bachana hai, Karra ko hatana hai'.

Significantly, the Congress leadership's move to appoint all the imports as state chiefs has backfired given that all of them have proved to be big failures.

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Bihar poll strategy on dinner menu in Delhi

The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has already started preparations for the assembly elections in Bihar, scheduled for October-November next year. All the five parties in the alliance - Janata Dal (United), BJP, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) of Chirag Paswan, Hindustan Awami Morcha of Jitin Ram Manjhi and Rashtriya Lok Morcha of Upendra Kushwaha - have so far presented a united front. 

They are soon going to have district-wise meetings to ensure the alliance is strengthened at the grassroots. In Delhi too, leaders of the five parties try their best to put forth a picture of cohesiveness.

Recently, JD(U) national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha hosted a dinner at his residence in Delhi. Home minister Amit Shah, and his ministerial colleagues Chirag Paswan and Jitin Ram Manjhi apart from all the senior leaders from the state attended the dinner meeting. All important matters related to the NDA in Bihar were discussed.

Clearly, the massive victories in Maharashtra and Haryana have given a huge boost to the BJP-led NDA after a relatively poor show in the Lok Sabha polls.

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Can't take your big brother attitude any more: JMM in a subtle message to Congress

The Congress, which is a part of the JMM-led ruling coalition in Jharkhand, cannot stop itself from playing the big brother in the alliance. It tries to take unilateral decisions and ends up having an egg on its face.

Recently, the grand old party named Poreyahat MLA Pradeep Yadav as its legislature party leader and Khijri MLA Rajesh Kachhap as his deputy.

The party also proposed the name of Bermo MLA Kumar Jaimangal alias Anup Singh as its chief whip.
 
While Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato approved the names of Yadav and Kachhap on the concluding day of the assembly session, he withheld Jaimangal's name.

The JMM leadership, including chief minister Hemant Soren, is apparently upset with Congress general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal for trying to run roughshod over it by sending the names without any consultation. 

The JMM, this time, put its foot down and withheld Jaimangal's name in a terse message to the Congress that its big brother attitude will no longer be tolerated.

Moreover, state Congress president Keshav Mahato Kamlesh had sent the names to the speaker in a sealed envelope but somehow it got leaked to the media. This further enraged the JMM leadership.

The buzz in the Congress now is that while Venugopal had rubbed everyone the wrong way in the party, he has also achieved another distinction of having riled the alliance partners too.