The much-anticipated first list of the Congress party released last week contained just 39 names, essentially a ‘safe list’ with no candidates declared yet from major states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
The start seemed rather uninspiring for a party riding on the INDIA bloc and aiming to dislodge the Narendra Modi government.
On the other hand, the BJP seems to be on board a Formula One racing car towards its aimed finishing line of 400 seats for the NDA — be it in terms of declaring candidates or stitching new alliances like with TDP in Andhra Pradesh and opening talks with the BJD in Odisha.
A regional party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), trumped the Congress in poll preparations by declaring all 42 candidates in West Bengal in one go and quashed all talk of any arrangement with the Grand Old Party.
This came after another INDIA ally, Aam Aadmi Party, took on the Congress inside the Punjab assembly, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann even daring the party to pull out of arrangements in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi will fight from Wayanad in Kerala against the Left, sparking another strife in the INDIA camp. His opponent is Annie Raja, the wife of senior Left leader D Raja.
The much-anticipated first list of the Congress party released last week contained just 39 names, essentially a ‘safe list’ with no candidates declared yet from major states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
The start seemed rather uninspiring for a party riding on the INDIA bloc and aiming to dislodge the Narendra Modi government.
On the other hand, the BJP seems to be on board a Formula One racing car towards its aimed finishing line of 400 seats for the NDA — be it in terms of declaring candidates or stitching new alliances like with TDP in Andhra Pradesh and opening talks with the BJD in Odisha.
A regional party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), trumped the Congress in poll preparations by declaring all 42 candidates in West Bengal in one go and quashed all talk of any arrangement with the Grand Old Party.
This came after another INDIA ally, Aam Aadmi Party, took on the Congress inside the Punjab assembly, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann even daring the party to pull out of arrangements in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi will fight from Wayanad in Kerala against the Left, sparking another strife in the INDIA camp. His opponent is Annie Raja, the wife of senior Left leader D Raja.