The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike or BBMP election is due on July28 . Counting will take place on July 31. In any other state, one municipal corporation might not have elicited so much excitement. But a lot of political drama led to the poll. The BBMP's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's term ended earlier this year but the state government had hoped that elections could be delayed, saying they wanted to trifurcate the body first. The ruling Congress said this was to make the huge city, with its many civic problems, easier to administer. But the opposition held protests against the trifurcation and insisted the Congress was only trying to delay the municipal polls as the party felt it would not do well. The matter went all the way to the Supreme Court on a petition filed by Independent Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrashekhar. The apex court ruled that the elections must be held before August.
The Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramiah has become pro-active. A new panel for the development of urban Bengaluru has been launched. Whether this will influence the outcome, given the shambolic state of urban civil facilities remains to be seen.
Nail-biting race for Smart City slots on the cards
The deadline for the Smart City contest, in which 51 smart cities will be chosen from a list given by state governments ends on July 31. State governments are working full-time to nominate the cities from their state they think should be on the list of 51. Later this week, West Bengal, which has asked for four smart cities, will hold a competition of 59 civic bodies to bid for the project. The competition will be on a range of parameters such as power, water, taxation, etc. Odisha has decided on Bhubaneswar but one other city is being considered by a committee and will be decided later this week. Uttar Pradesh is grappling with lack of civic facilities in municipalities but could offer 12 of 64 cities.
Tamil Nadu is pressing for 12 smart cities and consultations within the state government are on. Nail-biting excitement is likely before the deadline.
Lalit Modi's fate to be decided this week
Businessman Lalit Modi has been asked by the Enforcement Directorate to come to India for questioning. He claims he hasn't got the summons, which will be sent to him at an address where he can be reached.
This week will decide whether he will return to India and what the next round of questioning will involve: Cricket, his business dealings in Rajasthan during the earlier tenure of Vasundhara Raje or some new revelations that the government will come up with.
So far, the initiative has been with Lalit Modi. Will the government wrest it back from him in the course of this week?
Who will make it to Sonia Gandhi's iftar guest list?
All eyes will be on the iftar party to be hosted by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday. Lalu Prasad, who is angry that Rahul Gandhi intervened to project Nitish Kumar as the alliance's chief ministerial candidate before consulting him (he cannot contest for the CM's post because of his conviction in the fodder scam) has announced that he has his own iftar party in Patna and will not be able to attend. He will send a nominee. Meanwhile, the party itself will be watched closely for the body language of leaders attending it. Will Badruddin Ajmal of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) be invited - and will he attend? The AIUDF and the Congress are rivals in Assam, where elections are due next year. The Congress's partner in the Kerala government, the Indian Union Muslim League, has been drifting away of late. They will certainly be invited. It is not clear whether the National Conference will be able to attend, given Farooq Abdullah's health. They have proved to be the Congress loyal ally.
Speculation about date of PM Modi's Pakistan trip
February 2016? Or November 2016? When will the Saarc summit to be hosted by Islamabad be scheduled? That is the latest speculation around the prime minister's Pakistan trip. A two-day visit in February 2016, ahead of the Budget session of Parliament, makes eminent sense for India. After that, the weather turns too hot and October, when it starts cooling down, is full of festivals and holidays.
The lastest Saarc summit was held in Kathmandu in November 2014. That was the one where PM Narendra Modi broke off from the official party to take a little walk with Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, without aides, around the gardens in Dhulikhel, the retreat. After that, the next big meeting of the two will be in Pakistan. Saarc summits are generally held at 18-month intervals, though there is no scheduling rule. The meeting of the two leaders at Ufa, Russia was timed well because the intervening months will provide a window to report to each other if they've managed to move forward on all the issues mentioned in the joint statement. The bets are on November 2016.
