Rahul has abandoned his revolutionary idea to give charge to the youth, and has bowed down to the formulae of veteran leaders. After taking command of party organisations, he had done some experiments and claimed that no compromise would be made. But now he has backtracked from all that
The youth brigade of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi is in great dilemma. Rahul has abandoned his revolutionary idea to give charge to the youth, and has bowed down to the formulae of old and veteran leaders. After taking command of some party organisations, he had indulged in some experiments and claimed that no compromise would be made on them. But now he has backtracked from all that. The Congress is not going to put forth any new or young face in any of the forthcoming Assembly Elections.
In Punjab, the Congress has given the command to Captain Amarinder Singh and Ambika Soni. The two leaders are 73 years old and by the time elections are held in 2017, they will turn 75. These two names have been decided under the reconciliation formula.
In the same way, when Rahul went to Assam recently, it was announced that only Tarun Gogoi will be the CM face of the Congress. By the time Assembly Elections are held next year, Gogoi will be 80 years old. Himanta Biswa Sarma and around one dozen MlAs have left the Congress due to “overlooking of youth leaders of the party”.
Despite all controversies, the Congress will fight Kerala elections on the name of Oommen Chandy, who is 72 years old. In Himachal Pradesh, 81-year-old Virbhadra Singh will continue to be the party face. Earlier, it was said that he would retire, but after the CBI raid, the Congress has let him continue, probably out of sympathy.
NO UNANIMITY OVER TIE-UPS
It seems that the Congress has not been able to reach consensus over the alliance issue. After the Bihar experience, Rahul Gandhi had asked State leaders of his party to take decisions on alliances and suggest probable partners. It must be noted that Congress leaders in Bihar had insisted on joining the mahagathbandhan of JDU and RJD. That is why Rahul has asked leaders of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Punjab to suggest the names of probable allies.
But speculations are that the Congress has not been able to get more options. In Assam, Badruddin Ajmal is ready for talks, but many Congress leaders are of the view that if the alliance with Ajmal materialises, then Hindu votes may get polarised in favour of the BJP. Hence, there is no consensus. There is no agreement within the Congress over an alliance with AGP either.
In Punjab, new State President Captain Amarinder Singh wants to tie up with four parties. He has suggested names of CPI, CPM, BSP, and Punjab People’s Party. But if that happens, the Congress will be left with only a few seats. The party has been fighting alone till date, so it has its own candidate on every single seat. That is the reason why many leaders are not in favour of an alliance.
In West Bengal, CPM is giving signals for an alliance, but there is a problem due to Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress is dependent on DMK.
IN VAJPAYEE'S FOOTSTEPS
Many BJP leaders are of the view that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeated the history created by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. like Vajpayee, Modi also went to lahore and promised to strengthen friendly relations with Pakistan. Next month, Foreign Secretaries of both countries will meet and after that a composite dialogue process would begin. Once the dialogue process starts, top leadership of India and Pakistan will certainly participate at some juncture. One and half decade ago in 1999, similar initiatives were taken. After Vajpayee’s lahore visit, Pervez Musharraf had come to India and a summit was held in Agra.
TROUBlE IN MUlAYAM ClAN
All is not well in the clan of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mulayam has established his family and those of his cousin brothers in politics. He has given good posts to either one or two members from every family. Around one and half dozen family members are in active politics. They are either MPs, MlAs or councillors or have got the status of ministers. Now it is said that all these people are trying to place their own relatives in politics.
However, the issue of relationships has got so complicated that Shivpal Yadav had to give a clarification on the UP lokayukta, Justice Virendra Singh, who has been appointed by the Supreme Court. He said Virendra Singh is not his relative, though Opposition leaders and even some leaders of SP do not believe Shivpal’s claim.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav is said to be angry over the ouster of his two close aides from the party. Without his knowledge, two young leaders — Sunil Yadav aka Sunil Sajjan and Anand Bhadouria — have been thrown out of the party. They were said to be very close to Akhilesh. Probably this was the reason why Akhilesh didn’t turn up to inaugurate the Saifai Mahotsav. He didn’t participate in the programme for the first two days.
On the other hand, Aparna Yadav, Mulayam’s daughter-in-law and the wife of Prateek Yadav, has been singing her own tune. She always speaks in favour of Modi. Her latest statement is that the minor convict of Nirbhaya gangrape will not be allowed to enter UP. It is to be noted that he hails from UP and belongs to the core vote bank of Mulayam. That is the reason why many leaders of Samajwadi Party believe that this statement may harm the party.
PARTY HOPPING BEGINS
Hopping politics has started in States where Assembly Elections are scheduled. This process has either started or will start soon in States like West Bengal, Assam, Punjab, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, causing worry for all parties.
In Kolkata, before the beginning of CPM conclave, party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury cautioned his party colleagues about this. There are speculations that many CPM leaders are in touch with either TMC or BJP. This danger is not restricted to the left only; many leaders of the Congress are also trying to join TMC.
The situation is the same in Punjab. It’s an all-out war between the Congress and AAP, as claimed by Captain Amarinder Singh recently. After that both parties are competing to break or persuade leaders from each other’s party.
Sukhpal Singh Khaira, a big name of the Congress and once its spokesperson, has joined AAP. Soon after this, Amarinder Singh motivated 34 leaders from Akali Dal and 21 from AAP to join the Congress. Party leaders even boasted that the Congress is taking 21 leaders from AAP in place of one. Soon after that, Suchche Singh Chottepur, convenor of AAP in Punjab, motivated one big leader of the Congress to join his party.
There is stampede-like scenario in Assam Congress. After Himanta Biswa Sarma, around a dozen MlAs have joined the BJP. It is said that the BJP is not ready otherwise Sarma can motivate one dozen MlAs to join the party.
BJP-RSS MEETING AGENDA
The next coordination meeting of the RSS and BJP will have a big agenda. In the last meeting held in Delhi, the media focused only on big faces. PM Modi was also a part of the event. He was present at the closing ceremony and had heard the speech of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
But this time the meeting will be different as the agenda will be bigger and more political. In this meeting, new tenure for BJP National President Amit Shah will be discussed. Next month, he might get full three-year term. Till date, he has been completing the remaining term of Rajnath Singh. In his own term, he will oversee elections in many States and will face many challenges.
Assembly Elections will soon be held in five States. After facing defeat in Delhi and Bihar, the BJP and RSS have a big challenge to do well in these States. If the BJP doesn’t fare well, the performance of Modi Government will be questioned. So, in the BJP-RSS meeting, elections in the five States will be discussed. All aspects — right from alliance and strategy — will be discussed.
