Southern comfort
EPS, OPS struggle to seek BJP endorsement

The current round of AIADMK infighting has reached the door of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The warring EPS and OPS factions are vying to win Mr Modi’s support. Both leaders are trying hard to get an appointment with the Prime Minister during his Chennai visit on July 28. The PM is visiting the Tamil Nadu capital to inaugurate the Chess Olympiad scheduled to begin at Mamallapuram near Chennai. Mr Modi’s moves on the political chessboard set by the AIADMK factions will be carefully watched. Political circles are buzzing with speculation about which way the BJP will lean. Both Edapadi Palanisamy and O Panneerselvam have sacked each other, claiming ownership of the AIADMK throne. Both have visited Delhi and tried in vain to meet the PM and Home Minister Amit Shah. EPS flew into the national capital to attend outgoing President Ramnath Kovind’s farewell. He visited President-elect Droupadi Murmu’s house to congratulate her. But he could not meet the Prime Minister or the Home Minister in spite of best efforts. OPS could not be in Delhi during the past few days as he has reportedly contracted Covid. Though ESP has by all indications taken control of the AIADMK, the BJP had earlier supported OPS and had helped him become deputy chief minister. OPS has not given up hope of the BJP backing him once again to help him occupy a respectable place in the AIADMK. Busy as they were with the Presidential election, Maharashtra upheaval and the monsoon session of Parliament, the PM and home minister have so far kept away from the EPS-OPS tussle. The PM’s Chennai visit is now being keenly watched.

Road to Raisina
Kejriwal to be the face of AAP in Haryana polls

Ek Mauka Kejriwal Ko will be the Aam Aadmi Party slogan in the Haryana state elections next year. AAP sources say that party chief Kejriwal will project himself as the chief ministerial candidate in Haryana election. The AAP chief hails from the Bhiwani district of Haryana. He is therefore a son of the soil, and his electoral debut in the state will be dubbed as a return of the native. “He will be projected as a person who wants to serve his home state after earning laurels in India and abroad for his campaign against corruption, which also won his party an overwhelming support of people in Delhi and Punjab elections,” said a reliable source. Rumours of Kejriwal planning to replace Bhagwant Mann as the chief minister of Punjab have also been brushed aside by the party. To achieve its national ambition, AAP is looking for a financially thriving state from where it can raise funds to feed its nationwide campaign. The party has identified Haryana as that state. Winning Punjab was a big achievement for AAP. It was the first full-fledged state that fell into the party’s kitty. After its victory in Punjab, funds are expected to flow into party coffers much more easily. But today’s Punjab is not the rich state it once used to be. It has struggled with its finances of late. Haryana, in comparison, has strong economic fundamentals with a wide industrial base. A victory in Haryana could see an exponential rise in AAP’s corporate donors. Haryana is, therefore, all set to witness a three-cornered fight between Kejriwal, chief minister M L Khattar and Congress party’s Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Rebellion in the ranks
Infighting intensifies in Haryana Congress

After losing the Rajya Sabha election because of cross-voting by one Congress MLA and disqualification of the vote of another, All India Congress Committee general secretary Ajay Maken has been working on a mission mode to find out the party MLA who marked the vote wrongly causing his defeat. Though the name of former leader of the opposition in Haryana assembly Kiran Choudhary has been doing rounds in political circles, Kiran herself has stoutly denied making the mistake in marking her preference. Maken has now formally charged Kiran with marking the vote wrongly. He has released a video record of the voting day to show that Kiran Choudhary was the 26th MLA to have voted, and it was the 26th vote that was cancelled. Maken has said that Kiran marked the vote wrongly and then showed it to the Congress party’s election agent Vivek Bansal, who did not bring the mistake to the notice of party’s senior leaders present at the polling centre. “It is statistically improbable that both Kiran Choudhary and the party’s polling agent made a mistake,” Maken said, and added that the two will now have to explain whether they actually made a mistake or there was a deliberate foul play. He is reportedly pressing for action against the guilty.