On January 18, as Rahul Gandhi's mammoth Bharat Jodo Yatra crossed state borders to enter Manser in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district from Ghatota village in Punjab's Hoshiarpur, TV news channels were also flashing images of another development in the Congress. Party leader Manpreet Badal, the former Punjab finance minister, was joining the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at their national headquarters in Delhi.
A scion of the famous Badal family of Punjab who control the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Manpreet is not known for the political skills of his more illustrious family members. For the BJP, however, he is a prize catch all the sameone they can use to embarrass the Congress while also trying to make inroads into SAD chief Sukhbir Badal's erstwhile bastion, the core Malwa region. Since November 2021, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling BJP at the Centre were forced to back down and repeal the new farm laws, the party has been in a slump in Punjab, with the cadre demoralised and the support base shrinking. The party soon turned to engineering defections in the Congress and SAD to shore up the state unit. Manpreet is only the latest in the string of renegades who have crossed over, including former Congress chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his family. Of course, these leaders come with their own baggage of factionalism, corruption allegations and jockeying for prime positions. Already, there are rumblings-some of the defectors have refused to attend party meetings until they get what they were promised. As expected, all this has left the core BJP cadre fuming.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 13, 2023 من India Today.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 13, 2023 من India Today.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
The Age Of Influencers
A Tribe Of Young, Educated Internet Warriors Is Shaping Public Opinion With Curated Videos On Social Media Platforms
Will Naveen Make Or Be History?
The BJD Patriarch Faces His Fiercest Challenge Ever As A Determined Bjp Works To Stymie His Bid To Become India's Longest-serving Chief Minister
Scoring a Century
Manoj Bajpayee has just acted in his 100th project-Bhaiyya Ji
FRAGMENTED RUINS
A new exhibition at Gallery XXL, Mumbai juxtaposes the artworks of an Indian and a Spanish artist
United by Art
Moments in Collapse, SAHMAT's group exhibition at Jawahar Bhawan in Delhi brings together artworks with politically charged themes
In Her Mother's Voice
Vidya Vox's exuberant new EP, Sundari, is primarily in Tamil as a tribute to her mother
"MURDER, HE WROTE"
Ashutosh Rana and Vijay Raaz shine in JioCinema's Murder in Mahim, a web series based on Jerry Pinto's layered crime novel
FLAGRANT VIOLATIONS
Gujarat sees another major tragedy as businesses flout safety norms and officials look away. This time it's 33 lives lost in a blaze at a gaming zone
THWARTED FRANCHISE
Robertsganj, on the southeastern tip of Uttar Pradesh, is a study in how a coalition of other castes often defeats the aspirations of the majority caste among Dalits-in constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Castes
THE LAST FRONTIER
PURVANCHAL HOSTS THE BIGGEST STAR CANDIDATE IN INDIA: NARENDRA MODI IN VARANASI. THAT MAY BE A NO-CONTEST, BUT CRAFTY CASTE PLAY BY THE SP-CONGRESS POSES A CHALLENGE IN THE OTHER DOZEN SEATS