The Assembly elections in Bihar are still two years away. Yet, state BJP leaders are beginning to project themselves as the future Chief Minister. The BJP central leadership has not yet given any thought to Bihar’s state leadership. Rather, the party is currently focused on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Newly-appointed BJP state president Samrat Chowdhury is reportedly projecting himself as the future leader. Meanwhile, to test the waters, Central Minister Giriraj Singh who is himself a contender for the top post, recently floated Chowdhury’s name as a potential candidate. This provoked an immediate reaction from Leader of Opposition, Vijay Singh, who is insistent that nobody from the BJP can be Chief Minister unless they have an RSS background—which Chowdhury notably does not have. Therefore, he tried to scotch the idea of Chowdhuary as the future CM.
Lanterns flood Agartala market
There is no RJD unit in Tripura whose election symbol is a lantern. But recently, city markets are flooded with old ‘hurricane lamps’. While veteran RJD leader Lalu Prasad might be happy to know this, the reason for the sale of these lanterns is far from political. Tripura has been facing huge power cuts. Although the state government is working overnight to please consumers, the demand is on the rise due to many developmental activities. Opposition parties, especially the left, are now planning to march to the state secretariat with lanterns in hand in protest. Before the last elections, state BJP leaders had promised to develop infrastructure for the supply of electricity. They said that the World Bank and Asian Development Bank promised to fund the power infrastructure project. Post-election, however, no development is seen. Tripura will be facing one by-election of the Assembly constituency vacated by Central Minister Pratima Devi who won from Dharmanagar. It will be a test case for the incumbent government to retain the seat.
Special ‘litti chokha’ could not unite Rahul-Kejriwal
Sumptuous “litti chokha” and other Bihar delicacies were served to Opposition leaders at the luncheon hosted by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last Friday. When local leaders asked Rahul Gandhi how he liked the food, he said “enjoyed the food, especially the litti chokha,” which is a dough ball made of whole wheat flour and stuffed with gram flour and pulses. But perhaps Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal did not like it. The Chief Minister was upset with the Congress as they were not vocal about the Centre’s Ordinance in Delhi that nullified a Supreme Court constitution bench order regarding the Delhi government’s right over bureaucracy.