Rahul Gandhi Meets Sharad Pawar Hours After BJP's Bypoll Defeat

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi met Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar last night, hours after the BJP lost two vital parliamentary strongholds in Uttar Pradesh to the combined force of the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's BSP.

Rahul Gandhi Meets Sharad Pawar Hours After BJP's Bypoll Defeat

Sources say the meeting marks the Congress president's attempts to bring together anti-BJP parties and also explore an alliance to challenge the BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, in the general election due in 2019. He is also expected to meet Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when she visits Delhi later this month.

Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule was also in yesterday's meeting, which took place at her home in Delhi.

The leaders took up from where they had left off at the dinner hosted a day before by Rahul Gandhi's mother Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the UPA. Nineteen parties attended the dinner, which was seen as a show of opposition unity.

The BJP is having a tough time in Maharashtra, a state that it rules with the Shiv Sena. The Sena has declared that it will go it alone in the Lok Sabha election and has escalated its almost daily attacks on its long-time ally.

Sharad Pawar was instrumental in gathering leaders of political parties in a silent march against the central government in Mumbai. He is also likely to meet Mamata Banerjee.

Rahul Gandhi's initiative to reach out to leaders of like-minded parties comes at a time when Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has proposed an "anti-Congress, anti-BJP alliance" for the national election, a call that has been supported by Mamata Banerjee.

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Counting Interrupted In Manik Sarkar's Constituency, CPM Hits Out At BJP

New Delhi: Top CPI(M) leaders approached the Chief Election Commissioner today to protest the stopping of counting in at least three booths of the Dhanpur constituency in Tripura, previously held by Manik Sarkar. According to leads, Mr Sarkar is set to win the seat again, but counting was interrupted by BJP agents, said the CPI(M).

Counting Interrupted In Manik Sarkar's Constituency, CPM Hits Out At BJP

"The BJP's counting agents did not sign on the control unit," said Sitaram Yechury, the General Secretary of the CPI(M). "If someone voluntarily doesn't do that, then intervention should happen," he added.

According to Mr Yechury, the signatures of presiding officers and control agents from all other parties were present on the slip.

In a statement, the CPI(M) also alleged that BJP workers were heckling Manik Sarkar, who was still present at the counting station till 6:30 in the evening.

The Left party demanded immediate action by the Election Commission to ensure that counting is resumed.

Senior BJP leaders Vijay Goel, Piyush Goyal, JP Nadda and Prakash Javedekar were also seen entering the Election Commission of India office in central Delhi, but they did not confirm the purpose of their visit.

The BJP expanded its Northeast footprint today with a spectacular win in Tripura, ending the two-decade run of the CPM's Manik Sarkar as chief minister. The BJP, along with its regional ally the IPFT, is set to win 42 of Tripura's 60 seats The party on its own is leading in 35 seats; it had won no seat in 2013. The Left is ahead in 18, losing 33 from last time. A party needs 31 seats to win a majority. State BJP chief Biplab Kumar Deb, 48, is widely expected to be the BJP's pick for chief minister in Tripura.

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