deep throat
SAFFRON SONDESH The Bengal BJP is confident it will slowly but surely capture power in the state . Its leaders feel that by the 2021 assembly polls , the party will be in a position to take charge . After all , the BJP ’ s voteshare has gone up to 24 per cent in the panchayat polls , from 11 per cent in 2016 , despite facing some violence . Sources claim party workers are now waiting for Amit Shah to do what he did for catapulting the BJP to power in states like Manipur and Tripura . They want the party president to make “ frequent visits ” to Bengal , and , seemingly keen to play ball , he landed there for a two-day visit on June 27 . Shah ’ s first target is to get more seats in 2019 general elections . He also wants to know the truth about the killings of BJP workers during the panchayat polls .
HOLIER-THAN-COW After doing a first by having a ministry of happiness , the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh is now mulling a ministry for cow protection . Cow Protection Board chairman Akhileshwaranand Giri , who was recently accorded cabinetminister status , has written to Chouhan asking for a full-fledged ministry dedicated exclusively to ‘ gauraksha ’. Since Madhya Pradesh was the first state to establish a cow sanctuary in Agar district , Giri believes it is the right time to take it to the next level . Even though violence resulting from cow trafficking was never an issue in the state , the BJP government had announced setting up of the first cow sanctuary in 2008 to preserve cows that are not self-sustaining . Incidentally , happiness minister Lal Singh Arya is facing murder charges . Rajasthan is the only other state that has a similar ministry for cow welfare .
DIVIDED IN FIGHT Much was said about the bonhomie between ‘ UP ke ladke ’ ( UP boys ) Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav during the assembly polls in 2017 . Things don ’ t appear to be that hunkydory between the Congress and Samajwadi Party ( SP ) scions . This was evident from Rahul Gan dhi ’ s iftaar , where most Opp osition leaders were invited . Neither did Akhilesh go nor did he send a representative . SP has made it clear that while the party is keen on a tie-up with the BSP and the RLD to take on the BJP in 2019 , it is not warming up to the Congress as a partner . It is still smarting at the Congress not joining hands with them in the Phulpur and Gorakhpur bypolls . Now the SP says they can only offer two seats to the Congress — Amethi and Rae Bareli !
12 OUTLOOK 9 July 2018