Today in Politics: Modi, Mamata face-off in key North Bengal belt; PM to kickstart Bihar push

Cooch Behar is among the state’s three seats going to the polls in the first phase on April 19.

In context: The constituency in North Bengal has witnessed clashes between supporters of sitting BJP MP and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nisith Pramanik, who has been renominated by the BJP, and TMC leader and Bengal minister Udayan Guha.

Pramanik faces Jagadish Barma Basunia, the TMC’s candidate representing the Rajbanshi community and the sitting MLA of Sitai, as his principal rival this time.

Once a stronghold of the Left Front constituent All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), which held the seat for an uninterrupted 32 years from 1977 to 2009, the Cooch Behar seat is now seen as a BJP bastion, with the party securing five of the seven Assembly segments in the 2021 state polls.

Modi’s rally will be his first in the state since the announcement of the poll schedule by the Election Commission (EC) on March 16.

Recommended reading: Bengal Minister Udayan Guha’s car attacked in Cooch Behar

PM’s Bihar campaign

PM Modi will kickstart the NDA’s poll campaign in Bihar Thursday with a rally, his first in the state, at Jamui. The Jamui Lok Sabha seat fell in the kitty of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), headed by Chirag Paswan, who is the sitting MP from the seat. The party this time has fielded his brother-in-law Arun Bharti from Jamui for the polls while Chirag will contest from his father and former Union minister late Ram Vilas Paswan’s bastion of Hajipur.

“It is a matter of pride for the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and the people of Jamui that the PM has agreed to launch his campaign in Bihar from the constituency. We are committed to helping him achieve the target of 400 plus seats for NDA, including all 40 in Bihar,” Chirag said.

In context: The rally comes days after Chirag’s uncle, Pashupati Paras reconciled and announced support for the NDA. He had quit as the Union minister after his Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP) was not given any seat after negotiations among NDA partners.

Recommended reading: Union minister Pashupati Paras quits over seat-sharing

Two Paswans and Nitish, BJP tries to work out seat-sharing in Bihar

Shah’s roadshows in Tamil Nadu

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will conduct four roadshows and a public meeting during his two-day visit to Tamil Nadu starting Thursday. Shah will launch his campaign with a roadshow in Theni on Thursday afternoon, followed by a public meeting in Madurai later in the evening. His agenda also includes a stop at the Meenakshi Amman temple in Madurai.

On Friday, he will hold three road shows covering Karaikudi in Sivaganga, the bustling route from Asath Nagar junction to the New Bus Stand in Tenkasi, and the Thakkalai area in Kanyakumari.

In context: This will be Shah’s first rally in Tamil Nadu days after the Modi dispensation claimed that the Congress government led by Indira Gandhi had given away the Katchatheevu island in 1974 to Sri Lanka, thereby alleging the grand old party’s inadequacy to protect the country’s territory.

The issue was first raised by state BJP chief and Coimbatore Lok Sabha candidate K Annamalai and was taken up subsequently by Prime Minister Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Recommended reading: Agreement with Sri Lanka in good faith say former diplomats

Purnea in spotlight

Political parties and observers would track Purnea in Bihar on Thursday, the last day of filing nominations for the phase 2 of the Lok Sabha polls to be held on April 26.

Purnea, which was given to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as part of the seat-sharing agreement of the Opposition INDIA bloc, has grabbed attention as Congress leader Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav is also likely to file his nomination from the seat. The RJD’s Bima Bharti filed her nomination on Wednesday.

Trouble erupted in the INDIA bloc in Bihar recently after Pappu Yadav merged his Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) with the Congress and insisted on contesting from Purnea, a seat he had won in the 1991 polls.

Phase 2 will see 89 seats from across 13 states and Union Territories going to the polls, including five – Kishanganj, Purnea, Bhagalpur, Katihar and Banka – of the 40 seats in Bihar.

– With PTI inputs