The BJP wants to retain an old bastion in Gujarat, but it is also hoping to clench another seat where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is steadily growing. In Punjab, where the AAP is not a small entity, the party is facing a strong challenge from the BJP.

The results for the bypolls will be declared on June 23.

Cong vs BJP on Delhi job fair

To mark Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s birthday on Thursday, the party is set to hold a mega job fair at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium in New Delhi, claiming that over 20,000 unemployed youth have registered for the event. The BJP, however, dismissed the initiative as a “publicity stunt” by a party that has been “politically wiped out” from North India.

Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav said the fair, jointly organised by the Indian Youth Congress and the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, would see participation from over 100 top companies, aiming to offer jobs to at least 5,000 youth.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor questioned the logistics, asking why the fair was to be in a stadium with only 3,000 seats if 20,000 youth had registered. “This is nothing more than a publicity stunt. The Congress has no political base left in Delhi or North India and is now misleading youth with hollow promises,” Kapoor said in a statement.

New Bihar RJD chief takes charge

On Thursday, the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) newly appointed Bihar president is set to take over. The party will get its first state unit chief from an Extremely Backward Class (EBC) community in veteran politician Mangani Lal Mandal.

Mandal, 76, who returned to the Lalu Prasad-led RJD from the ruling JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar this January, emerged as the RJD leadership’s “natural choice” for its Bihar unit chief with the party going all out to woo the politically-crucial EBCs in the run-up to the state Assembly polls slated for October-November this year, as reported by Santosh Singh.

Mandal will succeed the outgoing state RJD chief Jagdanand Singh, a Thakur leader and close Lalu aide, who expressed his unwillingness to continue in his position, party sources said.

The RJD has been conducting its organisation elections from the block to district levels in Bihar for the last four months. Its block and district presidents had been elected, reflecting a “balanced social combination” with “due representation” given to leaders from various groups including the EBCs and Scheduled Castes (SCs), sources said.

For the state party president’s post, whose election would take place on July 19, Mandal is the only candidate to have filed nomination. He is thus set to get elected to the post unopposed.

– With PTI inputs

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