Delhi Confidential: Taking Lead

2 min readJun 20, 2026 06:26 AM IST

The party with least electoral experience in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls next year may make the first move soon. Interviews of probable candidates for Chandrashekhar-led Azad Samaj Party (ASP) are on and it may release a list of 25-30 candidates in the next seven days, it is learnt. While the party is preparing to contest all 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh, it is still exploring the possibility of alliance with like-minded parties, said sources.

B’day Thaw

The relation between Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi may not be cordial in the House, the two had a friendly conversation on the latter’s 56th birthday on Friday. Sources in Rahul’s office said Birla had called the LoP on Friday to wish him on his birthday. Rahul thanked Birla and the conversation lingered on to Rahul’s recent visit to Kota, which happens to be Birla’s constituency, where the Congress leader addressed students. Birla told Rahul that he watched the programme online, according to sources.

Left Out

A three-member AICC panel led by Ajay Maken recently visited Punjab to assess the political situation in the poll-bound state.

The panel was meant to take stock of the state unit’s affairs and suggest changes in order to strengthen party prospects in the elections due early next year.  The panel learnt to have done extensive consultations with more than 70 leaders. However, sources said,

the panel didn’t speak with former Union minister Manish Tewari, who represented Ludhiana from 2009-2014, Anandpur Sahib from 2019-2024 and is the sitting Lok Sabha MP from Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.