POLITICS

After its historic win in the Punjab Assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is now focusing on the Delhi municipal elections. With its focus on sanitation, the party has put up various posters across the city to woo the public and sweep the civic body elections. After it suffered a setback due to the postponement of the MCD elections for which the BJP is being held responsible, the party even appealed to the top court to not defer the civic polls.

The issue has also been raised by 'G-23' leaders, who have sought that those involved in the election process should be shown exit door. The in charges -- Harish Chaudhary (Punjab), Dinesh Gundu Rao (Goa), Devendra Yadav (Uttarakhand), B.C. Das (Manipur) -- had reportedly told the high command that the party is returning to power but could not get enough seats which could have saved party prestige.

National in-charge of the BJP Information and Technology Department, Amit Malviya asked which part of "The Kashmir Files" does Omar find untrue? In a tweet, Malviya said, "Which part of #KashmirFiles does Omar find untrue? The fact that Farooq Abdullah, his father, resigned as CM on 18Jan1990, and as if on cue the genocide was unleashed on hapless Kashmiri Hindus starting 19Jan1990? That he ordered the release of 70 ISI trained dreaded terrorists?"

Former Leader of the Opposition and a prominent Dalit face Harpal Singh Cheema may be inducted as the deputy chief minister. Cheema retained his Dirba seat. The other probables in the Cabinet are Aman Arora, Kultar Sandhwan, Harjot Bains, Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, Baljinder Kaur, Gurmeet Singh Khudian, Neena Mittal and Kunwar Vijay Pratap.

Official sources said that the swearing-in ceremony is likely to be held in the Ekana stadium with the list of invitees running into several thousands. The party is preparing a list of invitees for the event and the guests will include beneficiaries of various government schemes - known as 'labharti'- who have played a crucial role in voting the BJP back to power.

After the poll loss, Congress general secretary in charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has met the party leaders for three days in a row to devise strategy to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh ahead of Lok Sabha polls. The Congress could manage only over 2 per cent votes and two seats in the Uttar Pradesh polls and the task ahead is tough so Priyanka Gandhi has tried to prepare a blue print for it, sources said.

The Yadav clan is celebrating Holi in a big way at a special pandal erected in their native village of Sefai. The celebrations are being planned on a large scale because of the fact that the party has improved its performance to a great extent in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

It is likely that the Hoodas may be given free hand in the affairs of Haryana. Similarly, the Gandhi family is reaching out each person in the "G-23" group, who have been demanding a drastic overhaul of the party's functioning, either personally of through an emissary. The G-23 met at senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad's residence on Thursday after Hooda's meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

Former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh may be the Rajya Sabha candidate from Aam Aadmi Party from Punjab this year. The AAP will have five seats in the Rajya Sabha by the end of this month. A source in the party said that name of India off spinner Harbhajan Singh is in the list of Rajya Sabha candidates from Punjab. The source said that the newly formed Punjab government has started fulfilling the promises made by party during the poll campaign.

Speaking to reporters, Tanavade also said that the state unit had already submitted profiles of winning candidates to the central BJP leaders and added that it was the central leaders who would take a call on whom to pick as chief minister. He also added that the name of the state's new chief minister could be announced after Holi, even as party sources claim that Pramod Sawant, who served as chief minister from 2019-22 and is the current caretaker CM.