Priyanka Gandhi to kick-start Congress' MP poll campaign with Jabalpur rally
Jabalpur (PTI): Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will kick off the Congress's campaign for the year-end Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls from Jabalpur on Monday after praying at the banks of the Narmada river, a party leader said.
Jabalpur is at the centre of the state's Mahakoshal region, which has a sizable number of tribal voters. In the 2018 Assembly polls, the Congress won 11 of the 13 Scheduled Tribe reserved seats in the eight-district division, with the remaining two bagged by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
"Priyanka ji will launch the party's campaign and Sankalp 2023 by addressing a public meeting at Shahid Smarak at around 11.15 am. She will land here at around 10:30am and head to Gwarighat to pray to Narmada river,” Jabalpur mayor and Congress' city chief Jagat Bahadur Singh earlier told PTI.
En route to the rally venue eight kilometres away, she will garland a statue of Rani Durgavati, who attained martyrdom fighting the Mughals, he said, adding the rally will be attended by at least two lakh persons.
"People in Mahakoshal area or Jabalpur division having eight districts feel neglected by the BJP. We did well (last time) in the area. This time around we are going to sweep the polls," he claimed.
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CPIM's M A Baby frontrunner for general secretary post, Bengal leaders back AIKS' Dhawale
Madurai (PTI): Former Kerala minister M A Baby appeared to be the frontrunner for the post of CPI(M) general secretary with the Politburo backing him, even as leaders from West Bengal backed All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) president Ashok Dhawale.
According to sources, many leaders backed Baby at a meeting of the Politburo, the highest decision-making body of the CPI(M), on Saturday night.
However, leaders from West Bengal, including Nilotpal Basu, Tapan Sen, Ram Chandra Dome and Md Salim, put their weight behind Dhawale, the sources said.
Dhawale initially proposed Salim's name but Salim said he wanted to continue as the secretary for West Bengal, where the CPI(M) is working to regain foothold. The leaders from the state then proposed Dhawale's name.
The final decision on the general secretary will be taken after the new Central Committee and Politburo are decided on Sunday.
Many of Baby's supporters gathered at the venue of the ongoing party congress, held once every three years, in Sitaram Yechury Nagar here and raised slogans backing him.
Several top leaders of the Politburo are likely to step down as they have crossed the age of 75.
According to the sources, members said during the Politburo meeting that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should get another extension.
Vijayan, 79, was given an extension in the last party congress as well.
Brinda Karat (77), Subhashini Ali (77), Prakash Karat (77), Manik Sarkar (76), Suryakant Mishra (76) and G Ramakrishnan (75) are among the Politburo members who have crossed or reached the age limit of 75 set by the party.
The 24th party congress of the CPI(M) began on April 2 and will end on Sunday.
