The parties that oppose the Congress and level allegations of corruption of crores of rupees against it might not accept that the party is actually facing an acute fund shortage. Some time ago, Motilal Vora wrote to party MPs and MlAs to deposit donations, but to no avail. What nobody had fathomed was that the financial crisis was, in fact, deep-rooted.
It was apparent that the grand old party was grappling with resource crunch when it faced defeat in the Maharashtra and Odisha local body elections. It was said that the party allotted only Rs 20,000 to its candidates in Odisha. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, people were willing to contest on Congress tickets despite the bad state it was in because they got Rs 25 lakh to fight Assembly Elections and Rs 60 lakh for lok Sabha Elections. The party would shell out more money if the candidate had a greater probability of winning.
However, to contest the local body elections in Odisha, the treasurer of the party, Motilal Vora, gave Rs 20,000 and the State committee gave Rs 5,000 to each candidate. That means one Congress candidate fought the election on Rs 25,000 only.
The leaders of the BJP and RSS camped there continuously. The CMs of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were invited for campaigning. The Central Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, was also roped in. It is said that leaders of the BJP also used helicopters for campaigning during the local body elections.
Apparently, the Congress leaders of Maharashtra have also complained about lack of funds. They argued that the fight was with the BJP and Shiv Sena, which were the ruling parties right from the local body to the State and even Centre. It is being said that the Congress leaders had lesser money than the NCP candidates, and that is why the latter performed better. Probably, the Congress is also facing fund crises in UP.
AT STAKE FOR PARTY’S SAKE
Some believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put himself at stake for the UP elections and he should not have exhausted himself so much. This also holds true for the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The other Congress leaders are conspicuous by their absence in the State. During campaigning, either Rahul’s face is visible or that of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The Congress had not played such politics in Bihar. Rahul had not held joint rallies either with lalu Prasad Yadav or Nitish Kumar. He had addressed rallies at selected place only. Exactly opposite, he has now put himself in front. Rahul had committed a similar blunder in the 2012 elections. At that time, Digvijaya Singh was his mentor and guide. It must be noted that Rahul became the target of the Opposition only after the 2012 UP elections. Before that, he was declared a hero for the victory of 2009.
However, this time also, people are saying that it is on the advice of Ghulam Nabi Azad that Rahul is in this situation. On the other hand, Priyanka Gandhi is treading carefully. If the Congress wins, then she will be given credit for the alliance with the Samajwadi Party, and if it loses, then Rahul will be held responsible. Some might also say that the results would have been better if Priyanka had campaigned for the party.
Many leaders of the Congress are of the opinion that Rahul shouldn’t have campaigned so extensively, and that he should have stuck to selected rallies like he did in Punjab, Goa, and Uttarakhand. It is said that Ghulam Nabi Azad and Prashant Kishor have pushed Rahul ahead for their own success. This is for sure that if the Congress doesn’t win this time, there will be a big question mark on Rahul’s leadership.
UP POll EFFECT ON BIHAR
Though Tejashwi Yadav has made it clear that his ‘Chacha’ Nitish will continue to be the Chief Minister of Bihar, the reality is different. The RJD is in a hurry to change the guard. Before the statement of Tejashwi, lalu and Rabri made it clear that they wish to see their son as the CM as soon as possible.
Sources in the RJD say lalu is waiting for the results of UP elections. If the SP and Congress combine wins there, lalu will emerge stronger and Nitish’s problems will increase. leaders of the RJD will put pressure for equal power sharing. The Congress will extend its support to the RJD out of compulsion, though. At present, the Congress leaders are saying that they are with Nitish, but if the JDU goes with the BJP under compulsion, then the Congress leaders will have no option than to go with the RJD. The Congress and RJD jointly have 107 MlAs, and 122 is the number for majority. That means they have to manage only 15 MlAs to grab power.
The JDU leaders are well aware of this fact, and that is why they have not taken any step to weaken the BJP in UP. In private conversations, the JDU leaders are claiming that the BJP will win in UP. If that happens, lalu will face a setback. But if the SP-Congress win, the equation in Bihar will also change quickly.
PROMISES GAlORE
A bizarre election campaign strategy is being followed this time. leaders are doing only two things — either they are distributing freebies or they are taking a pledge to send CMs of the Opposition parties to jail. Arvind Kejriwal had started this trend in the 2013 Delhi elections. He had said that when he would come to power, he would put Sheila Dikshit, the then CM of Delhi, behind bars. After that, Kejriwal won twice, and for the past two years, his party has been ruling in Delhi but he has not taken any step towards keeping his promise.
The same campaign reached Punjab from Delhi. There too, Kejriwal vowed that if his party wins, there would be an investigation against the Badal family and Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, and his brother-in-law would be sent to jail. He probably didn’t take the name of Parkash Singh Badal because of his old age.
Not just Kejriwal, Captain Amarinder Singh’s campaign also hinged on the promise of putting the Badal family behind bars. He said that if the Congress comes to power, then the Badal family will be investigated.
A similar campaign is being run in the North-East. The Central Minister Prakash Javadekar has said in Manipur that if the BJP gains power, it will put Okram Ibobi Singh in jail. In Uttarakhand, the BJP has claimed that if the party wins, there will be an investigation against Harish Rawat. In Karnataka also, the BJP leaders are levelling corruption charges against CM Siddaramaiah and have promised an investigation if the party wins. Earlier, this was not the scene. Such promises were not made during election campaigns. This change is conspicuous after corruption became a prominent election issue.
SP-CONG NOT IN SYNC
lack of coordination between the Congress and Samajwadi Party for election campaign is evident now. The restlessness of leaders of both parties is for all to see. A Congress leader says
that in many areas, core voters of the Samajwadi Party — the Yadavas — are not voting for the Congress candidates.
In the same manner, leaders of the Samajwadi Party feel that the alliance with the Congress is not proving to be very effective. They feel that the Congress has not brought any vote bank with it. There is only one benefit of the alliance — polarisation of Muslim voters in favour of the SP and Congress.
Apart from this, leaders of both parties are levelling allegations against each other that they are facing losses due to each other. Recently, there was news that the Congress candidate and former MP, Kamal Kishore Pandey, didn’t want to show the SP flag on his car. He is of the view that people are angry with Yadavas and he can face loss due to this.
Fewer flags of the Congress are being seen in the joint rallies of the alliance. The SP leaders feel that their party will be at loss due to corruption charges against the Congress. Since the Congress was defeated in the local body elections in Maharashtra, the SP leaders have become more restless. They feel that they will have to pay a heavy price for the alliance. They are now indirectly saying that their party should not have given 105 seats to the Congress. The SP leaders feel that the chances of winning on seats where Congress candidates are fighting are bleak.