Ticket aspirants must have 15,000 likes on their Facebook Page: MP Congress

The Madhya Pradesh Congress has asked aspirants of party tickets for the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state to be more active on the social media. In a letter dated September 2, the party unit has said that a ticket aspirant should have 15,000 likes on her or his Facebook fan page and 5,000 followers on Twitter. Among other suggestions are, the aspirant should manage a WhatsApp group of booth-level workers, and like and retweet every post from the MP Congress Committee’s Twitter handle. The state unit has set September 15 as the deadline for ticket aspirants to submit details of their social media presence.

‘Prerna’ from Sharma
Caste is not a new phenomena in the politics of Madhya Pradesh but unlike Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it had never played a significant role in the elections. Ahead of the November Assembly polls, both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the primary Opposition party, the Congress, are working overtime to attract caste-based votes. Congress is trying to convince the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party for a seat-sharing agreement; the ruling party, on its part, is aggressively wooing Brahmin voters. It has announced that the birth centenary of Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, a former President of India, will be celebrated in a big way with a series of programmes under the umbrella ’Prerna’ (inspiration). Brahmins constitute around 9 per cent of the state’s population; Sharma, a Gaur Brahmin from Bhopal, was a Congress stalwart.

 
Justice for men
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Hari Narayan Rajbhar has demanded that a panel be formed on the lines of the National Commission for Women to look into the grievances of men. Rajbhar, who represents the Ghosi constituency, said men are committing suicide after being harassed by women, and false cases are being lodged against them. “Once a men’s commission is formed, it will act as an appropriate forum for men to seek justice,” he said. Rajbhar said he had written a letter to that effect to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Rajbhar and Anshul Verma, BJP MP from Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh, said they will address a seminar in New Delhi on September 23 to gather support for a “purush aayog”.