Today in Politics: PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi to campaign in Kerala; SC will hear Kejriwal’s plea against ED arrest

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be in Kerala on Monday and hold rallies at different places as a part of their campaigns for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

While Modi will attend two public meetings in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur, Rahul will hold a public meeting in his constituency Wayanad, from where he is eyeing a second term.

All 20 Lok Sabha seats of the state go to polls in the second phase on April 26. Sources said Modi’s rallies are being held with an aim to bolster the party’s chances in a state where the BJP has never won a Lok Sabha seat. The party has fielded Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekar from Thiruvananthapuram, where the Congress’s Shashi Tharoor is in the fray while it has fielded actor Suresh Gopi from Thrissur.

This is Modi’s sixth visit to the state this year. He will proceed to Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, where is expected to address a public meeting in the evening.

Meanwhile, Rahul will arrive in the state for a two-day tour and hold a United Democratic Front (UDF) rally in northern Kozhikode in the evening and take part in several programmes in his constituency over the next couple of days.

Party leaders claim his candidature from the state will boost the party’s chances in the upcoming polls. The UDF had won 19 of the 20 seats from the state in 2019.

The former Congress president will be up against senior CPI leader Annie Raja and K Surendran, the Kerala BJP chief from Wayanad.

SC to hear Kejriwal’s plea challenging ED arrest

The Supreme Court on Mondaywill hear Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta will hear the matter. Earlier this month,