Today in Politics: Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad for nomination, Manmohan Singh retires from Rajya Sabha

In Context: Kejriwal has been accused of taking kickbacks to the tune of Rs 100 crore from the “southern group” in exchange of “undue favours”. He was arrested after he skipped eight summons of the agency and is currently in judicial custody after his ED custody ended. The agency has arrested Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC K Kavitha, and AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Manish Sisodia in connection with the case so far. Singh was granted bail on Tuesday.

Rahul Gandhi to file nomination, kickstart campaign

Congress leader and sitting MP Rahul Gandhi will kickstart his election campaign with a rally in Wayanad, Kerala, on Wednesday. Sources said he will file his nomination for the seat after the rally.

Kerala Congress president K Sudhakaran and party leaders Ramesh Chennithala, P K Kunhalikutty and Panakkad Sayed Abbas Ali Shihab Thangal will accompany Rahul Gandhi to the Wayanad Collectorate for submitting his nomination.

Rahul is up against LDF candidate and CPI leader Annie Raj, and Kerala BJP chief K Surendran, from the seat.

All 20 Lok Sabha elections in the state go to polls in the second phase on April 26. The UDF had won 19 of the seats last time, which was seen as an effect of Rahul contesting from the Wayanad seat.

In Context: Rahul will file his nomination in the wake of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s criticism of the Congress leader contesting from the seat. “When the country saw protests, we could always see Annie Raja… But did we see the most important leader of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi? They can decide who will contest from where, but the inappropriateness was discussed by the entire country. Everybody is questioning his decision to come to Kerala but not compete against the BJP directly at the Centre,” Vijayan said.

While the Congress and CPI(M) are constituents of the Opposition INDIA bloc, in Kerala, they are direct rivals.

Amit Shah looks to douse Karnataka ‘rebel fire’

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has invited “rebel” Shivamogga Lok Sabha candidate and former Karnataka deputy CM K S Eshwarappa to Delhi to convince him against contesting the polls.

Sources said the former deputy CM has accepted the invite but is adamant on contesting the polls from Shivamogga, where the BJP has fielded former CM B S Yediyurappa’s son B Y Raghavendra.

On Tuesday, Eshwarappa said Shah, who was in Karnataka, spoke to him over the phone. “My struggle is against family politics. The BJP workers are hurt by the encouragement to family politics. Shah has directed me to withdraw from the contest against the BJP candidate in Shivamogga. But, I have conveyed to him that I am ready to withdraw if the state president’s post is given to any other leader in Karnataka,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources said that Shah’s discussion with Sumalatha Ambareesh, the Independent MP from Mandya who won the seat with the BJP’s backing in 2019, was successful. Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is a sitting MP from Mandya, wanted to contest on a BJP ticket, but the party gave the seat to the JD(S), which is likely to field former CM H D Kumaraswamy from the seat.

She said will announce her future course of action after a meeting with her supporters on Monday.

5 Rajya Sabha members to retire

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be among the five Rajya Sabha members to retire on Wednesday. His retirement will mark the end of an over three-decade-long career in Parliament, incidentally coinciding with Sonia Gandhi entering the Upper House as a member for the first time.

Others retiring include the Samajwadi Party’s Jaya Bachchan, who has been renominated for another term, like the RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha from Bihar, and Naseer Hussain of the Congress from Karnataka.

– With PTI inputs