1. Tejasvi Surya In, Murli Manohar Joshi Snubbed: BJP’s Election Strategy?
Towards the fag end of his speech at an RSS event, which he diligently posted on his social media later, the 28-year-old lawyer-turned-politician declared that the left liberal will not like of what he was about to say. “But... this election is a test of the common Indian’s patriotism. If you are with Modi, you are with India and if you are not with Modi, you are anti-India. That’s it.”
Meet Tejasvi Surya, the BJP’s candidate from Bengaluru South. He is a practicing lawyer at the Karnataka High Court, a RSS swayamsevak, the general secretary of the state Yuva morcha and also a part of the national social media team of the BJP. He will take on Congress’ BK Hariprasad in one of the most conservative constituencies in Bengaluru.
Read the full story here.
On the other hand, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi has said that he was told not to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Joshi is currently a member of Parliament from the Kanpur constituency in Uttar Pradesh. From 2009 to 2014, he was an MP from the Varanasi constituency, which was from where PM Narendra Modi subsequently contested. Read the full story here.
What does this say about BJP’s electoral strategy? By giving tickets to some leaders, and not to others, what’s the major takeaway from BJP’s ticket-distribution strategy?
2. Post-Poll Alliance Between SP-BSP and Congress Possible?
“BJP will not even get 200 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls,” senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told The Quint in an exclusive interview ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Singh spoke about various issues including the Congress’ alliance with SP-BSP in UP and AAP in Delhi, and the Balakot airstrikes. He also spoke about his candidature from Bhopal, a seat which has been a Bharatiya Janata Party stronghold for over two decades.
Speaking about the Lok Sabha polls, Singh asserted that even if there is no Gathbandhan between the Congress and SP-BSP, “BJP will still not get the seats they are eyeing.” Read the full story here.
3. Who Will the Northeast Vote For? Top Editors Give Their Take
Northeast India has 25 seats in the Lok Sabha. The Northeast has an interesting mix of big daddies of politics like the BJP, the Congress, regional parties like the AGP and newcomers like the Conrad Sangma-led NPP. So who’s winning the Northeast? What are the biggest issues? How critical are these 25 seats for the next party which will come to power in the Centre?
To answer all these questions and much more, we spoke to three top editors of the Northeast who cover news across print, television and digital. Read full story here.
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