Gautam GambhiHe has many achievements to flaunt on the cricket field but none in the political arena so far. So Gautam Gambhir, BJP candidate from East Delhi, is seeking votes in the name of the Narendra Modi government’s schemes. However, the handbills or fliers being circulated in homes to seek support for him do not have a picture of the state BJP chief. This has set many tongues wagging in the party on whether it is deliberate or inadvertent.
Cine boost
On the eve of the fifth phase of polling in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP, which is banking heavily on nationalism post the Pulwama attack and the airstrikes on Pakistan, will have some boost from unlikely quarters. The movie, Uri-The Surgical Strike, was broadcasted on a popular Hindi movie channel on Sunday afternoon. That the ruling dispensation felt happy about the timing was clear when several BJP leaders started sharing messages on WhatsApp about the screening.
Caught in between
The planning for Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir seems to be caught between two different views. While the special observers tasked by the Election Commission with gauging the situation on ground have recommended that elections be held in five or six phases in the months of May and June, the state administration and the Union Home Ministry have pitched for polls in October-November. The commission has now written to the Home Ministry, asking at which level its recommendation on the timing of J&K polls was approved before it was sent to the EC.
