Rahul Gandhi has chosen 15 candidates through Primary and states that to promote democracy inside the party, this will be followed in every election. However, reportedly, most of these candidates are either sitting MPs or the kith and kin of senior leaders. Sagar Meghe, son of MP Datta Meghe, won in Sagar; Manas Bora, son of Assam’s minister Akon Bora got the Guwahati seat and Rajbala Ola, daughter of Sis Ram Ola became a candidate from Jhunjhunu.

The AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal had said in Mumbai and Bangalore recently that it would be an utmost privilege to become a martyr like Bhagat Singh was. Interestingly however, resigning from the post of the Chief Minister of Delhi and contesting against the BJP  ‘s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, in the lok Sabha elections define martyrdom for him.

Recently, a video of Kejriwal with TV anchor Punya Prasoon Vajpayee was leaked. In it too, he was emphasising on the essence of Bhagat Singh. Apparently, he had chosen February 14 to resign as on the same date, Madan Mohan Malaviya had filed a mercy petition before lord Irwin after the Privy Council had rejected the appeal of Bhagat Singh and his accomplices, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Kejriwal also chose March 23 — the day the trio were executed — for his Varanasi rally to announce his candidature against Modi.

AAP CANDIDATES TUSSlE

Controversies have erupted concerning the AAP candidates in Delhi. Mahendra Singh from North-West Delhi has returned his ticket alleging Rakhi Birla of demanding money from him. South Delhi candidate Devendra Sehrawat has also come under the scanner of many other leaders of the party. Sehrawat was defeated in the assembly elections. One of the leaders has written a letter questioning how someone who could not win a single seat out of those 10 can guarantee a victory this time. likewise, Ashutosh, Ashish Khetan and Anand Kumar too are facing fierce opposition from within the party. Ashok Agarwal, the founder leader of the AAP, has resigned because of alleged differences over Ashutosh. leaders in East and North-East Delhi are also resigning en-masse.

 AZAD FOR PAN-INDIA CAMPAIGN

Right from K Rahman Khan to Salman Khurshid and Shakeel Ahmad, the Congress has many faces to project but only Ghulam Nabi Azad will campaign for it nationally. Ahmed is in-charge of Delhi, Haryana and Punjab so he will campaign in these three states along with his home state Bihar. likewise, Khurshid is contesting elections himself and Rahman Khan too will be active in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Azad will campaign at every nook and corner of the country. That is why it has been decided that he would not fight the elections. Reportedly, the party had decided to field him from his home district Udhampur but later decided that it was not proper to stick him to a single seat. A roadmap is being prepared for his campaign program on almost 150 seats.

 DISAPPOINTED YOUTHS

The Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had said that the youths would get at least 30 per cent of the tickets but till date they have got only 10 per cent of them. There is much disappointment in the NSUI, the student wing of the Congress, and the Youth Congress. This time these organisations were hopeful that they would get tickets for at least 70 people but out of the 260 declared seats they have got only 25. last year, Rahul had said that the youths would be made responsible in every way. But the fact is that the youth brigade of Congress is disappointed particularly with those youths who have actually managed to get a ticket.

 PRIMARY NEPOTISM IN THE CONGRESS

Rahul Gandhi has chosen 15 candidates through Primary and states that to promote democracy inside the party, this will be followed in every election. However, reportedly, most of these candidates are either sitting MPs or the kith and kin of senior leaders.

From Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, former MP Shankar Pannu has won while the State leaders were not in his favour. likewise, party MlA Pravin Rathod has won from Bhavnagar in Gujarat. He is a Koli and State leaders reportedly wanted to give this seat either to a Patel or Kshatriya.

In Primary, Sagar Meghe, son of MP Datta Meghe, won in Sagar; Manas Bora, son of Assam’s minister Akon Bora got the Guwahati seat and Rajbala Ola, daughter of Sis Ram Ola became a candidate from Jhunjhunu. Ajay Maken, JP Aggrawal and Minakshi Natarajan are sitting MPs and they have retained their candidatures. Apart from these, a close aide of Amit Deshmukh, son of the late Vilas Rao Deshmukh, won through Primary in latur and the close aide of the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, has won in Bangalore.

BJP PREFERRING PARTY CHANGERS

The BJP has given at least a dozen tickets to those who have changed their parties. The sitting MP from Dumariaganj in Uttar Pradesh, Jagdambika Pal, who spent almost 40 years with the Congress, has got a BJP ticket again from the same place. likewise, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and Kirti Vardhan Singh, who were with the SP, might get BJP tickets from Kaisarganj and Gonda respectively. It is speculated that Nand Gopal Nandi, formerly in the BSP, and Shyama Charan Gupta, former MP from Banda and Kesari Nath Tripathi are strong contenders for the Varanasi seat. Out of the 53 announced candidates in Uttar Pradesh, at least three are parachute candidates. The party has also made the BSP ‘s Rajya Sabha member SP Baghel and lok Sabha member Rajesh Verma its candidates. Apart from this, the party has given ticket to Ravindra Kushwaha, son of SP’s late leader Harikewal Prasad.

 OVERTURN IN WESTERN UP

leaders of the BJP and BSP anticipate the real fight to be only between the BJP and BSP. After the Muzaffarnagar riots, both are over-confident of polarisation.

But the situation has drastically changed and RlD’s Ajit Singh has re-entered the race. The Jat voters are still BJP supporters and want Modi to become the Prime Minister, but they will vote for Ajit Singh with a gut feeling that junior Chaudhary will support the BJP after the elections. For them voting for the RlD is akin to vote for the  It seems Ajit Singh remains only with the ruling party.

Jat reservation has also changed the scenario. Besides, the joining of Rakesh Tikait, son of the BKU leader, the late Mahendra Tikait, has also changed the wave. Jaya Prada and Amar Singh have also joined the RlD.

 lEADERS FlEE CONGRESS

The Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is motivating his leaders and party workers. Talking at Google Hangout, he is lifting his party workers’ morale. Party leaders however believe that Rahul should have instead advised his leaders not to leave their lok Sabha seats to go to the Rajya Sabha just before the elections.

Their concern was evident even in Anand Sharma  ‘s press conference. leaders like Kumari Selja from Haryana, Digvijaya Singh in Madhya Pradesh and Sanjay Singh from Uttar Pradesh have been sent to the Rajya Sabha which has impacted the drive of the party workers. Reportedly, Digvijaya Singh is not happy with the party; he thinks that he is being ignored. The seats of many MPs have also been changed and many big leaders from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan have refused to fight elections. After the decision to divide Andhra Pradesh, almost half of the 90 Congress MlAs from Seemandhra have also left the party.