A senior Congress leader, in an informal remark about the Pradesh Congress Committee, said, “It keeps winning and losing on its own.” To understand this statement, you will have to know the history of Congress in the last three-four decades. When the party’s leadership gave its support to former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress lost its mandate in the state. The same thing happened in Bihar when the party’s high command supported Lalu Prasad Yadav. After Dravida, Utkal and Bengal, Congress members now feel that the same story might get repeated in Delhi and Punjab. The party’s media head Jairam Ramesh addressed the public after the Congress Parliamentary Strategy Committee and said that the party’s high command has accepted the Aam Aadmi Party’s condition to hold power in Delhi.
Meanwhile, Congress members in Punjab and Delhi, who were until recently batting against the AAP, are now feeling lost. The decision to side with the AAP has been taken by the parliamentary party and its internal strategy committee headed by Sonia Gandhi. Does anyone have a choice now?
Outsourced candidates
The BJP hasn’t started ticket distribution for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections yet, but it has started to shortlisting candidates. It is estimated that the party will fight on 450 seats. Some candidates from other parties will contest on BJP tickets. So far, 11 such names have been revealed. Some famous personalities from the sports and film industry are also expected to run for the elections on a BJP ticket. BJP members have made a rough estimate that at least 10 per cent of seats will have to be given to outsiders.
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Core team
BJP members who belong to the party by origin and lineage have a new worry—outsiders are joining the party and scoring big. Some become MPs, ministers and even chief ministers. This leaves old members empty-handed. Now, former health minister of Telangana Etela Rajendra has been made the head of the campaign committee in the state. It has been hinted that he will be made the CM if the BJP wins. Another issue is that outsiders joining the party are far more outspoken about Hindutva and its ideology, which is getting embarrassing for old members. You can understand where this is happening.
Eye on Karnataka
Meanwhile, in Karnataka, all the BJP members are of true lineage but they haven’t been able to elect a leader of the opposition. And the Congress is making fun of it. The Congress is reminding the BJP of the time when the latter after losing the polls were saying that it would be difficult for Congress to pick a chief minister. Siddaramaiah vs D.K. Shivakumar would cause a rift in the party. Reportedly, the BJP is eyeing an outsider for the LoP’s role.
Lights, camera but no action
There are some leaders of the Bihar BJP who make sure to be featured on TV and in newspapers for every programme of the party. But recently when BJP workers were lathi-charged in Patna, which resulted in one worker’s death, those leaders were nowhere to be seen, not even in newspapers. Why? Visionary leaders after all keep their distance from such events.
Amit Shah’s ‘magic touch’
To win an election in India, one has to secure victory in many number games before the final vote count. Like the count of parties that joined the alliance, those who defected and left. And among all these is the count of caste groups. In Uttar Pradesh, NDA has defeated the Congress in the race to form an alliance. Political equations in the state changed in the state even before 18 July. This change was possible due to Home Minister Amit Shah’s acute political understanding. On Saturday, Shah met two leaders of UP and posted pictures on social media — Rajbhar and Loniya Chauhan’s support for the BJP became stronger. This is being called the ‘magic touch’ of Shah. Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which had won six seats in an alliance with Samajwadi Party, is now back with the BJP after five years. Dara Singh Chauhan, who had left the BJP and joined Samajwadi Party before the assembly polls, also resigned from the state assembly. He joined the BJP on Monday.
Bharat Agrawal is Executive Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, and a columnist.
By special arrangement with Dainik Bhaskar, edited by Ratan Priya.