Though the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Arvind Kejriwal, has denied an alliance with the Third Front or the communist parties, he is seen to be gradually drifting towards the agenda of the left. Speaking at a conference on minorities, Kejriwal regarded communalism as the biggest problem in the country, even bigger than corruption. He seems to be targeting the minority vote-bank and in turn has joined the bandwagon of the Congress and left parties who have been employing the same agenda since time immemorial. In fact, Kejriwal moves a step forward in claiming that should he come to power, he will order an SIT probe for all the communal riots that has happened in the country. In Delhi, he had already announced an SIT probe into the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984.
Governors And Elections
Reportedly, many Governors will return to active politics before the lok Sabha elections. It has happened earlier as well when leaders like Arjun Singh (Punjab) and Motilal Vora (Uttar Pradesh) had returned to active politics after completing their tenures as Governors. Now it is said that the former MP of the Congress and Governor of Kerala, Nikhil Kumar, will do the same. Probably he will fight the lok Sabha election from Bihar’s Aurangabad seat. likewise, Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil’s consolidation in latur (or any adjacent area) may benefit the Congress. The Governor of Karnataka, Hansraj Bhardwaj, is reportedly uncomfortable at Raj Bhavan. He was the law Minister during the UPA-I regime and when he became Governor, UPA-II saw three law Ministers. Although it is difficult to find a seat for him, he is desperate to return to Delhi’s politics. Apart from him, Governors of Madhya Pradesh (Ram Naresh Yadav), Rajasthan (Margaret Alva) and Uttarakhand (Aziz Qureshi) are also said to be willing to return to active politics, though nobody’s name has yet been cleared by the high command.
Who will be THE lokpalIJ
The process to set up the lokpal has been started by the Union Government and will be completed before the lok Sabha elections. To elect the lokpal and its eight members, a committee which comprises of five members has been formed. Rife speculations suggest that the sitting Chief Justice of India, P Sathasivam, might become the first lokpal of the country. He had taken charge as the Chief Justice last July and is going to retire in April this year after which he may shoulder the responsibilities of the lokpal. Among the remaining eight members, four will be from the legal background.
Names of some more judges of the Supreme Court, who will retire soon, like CK Prasad and Gyan Sudha Misra, are also being considered to be the members of the lokpal panel. Reliable sources say that the rest of the four members will be selected from retired officials of the Union Government. It looks improbable that people from either civil society or other backgrounds will find a place in the lokpal panel.
Tussle within AAP
Contenders for AAP tickets are continuously rising, to the extent that the party is facing difficulties in finalising its candidates. Whatsoever, only two seats in Delhi have been announced and there is seemingly a tussle for the rest. Supposedly, Rakhi Birla was to contest from the reserved northwest Delhi seat but a large number of party leaders and workers are opposing it, saying that Kejriwal should stick to his claim that no MlA would get a lok Sabha ticket.
More importantly, 163 people have applied for a ticket from this single reserved seat. Reliable sources of the AAP say this is the average number of candidates for almost all the seats. There are more contenders for the reserved seats since the Valmiki voters are supporting the AAP as well. In the Delhi Assembly elections, most of the reserved seats have been won by them. This puts the number of applications received by the AAP from outside Delhi higher than that of the BJP and the Congress.
Shiv Sena’s Problem
Alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra is seemingly very strong. Both have further established alliances with smaller parties and would expectedly benefit from the same. However, leaders are still shying away from the Shiv Sena. Two of its MPs—Ganeshrao Dudhgaonkar from Parbhani and Bhausaheb Wakchaure from Shirdi—have left the party and the latter has in fact joined the Congress.
This exodus of leaders has proved to be disturbing for Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Party leaders are contemplating that with the coalition of five parties, their chances to get tickets are decreasing. And probably this is the reason that is discouraging the leaders.
BJP, enemy No 1
Motive of the AAP is becoming clearer with each day. After resigning from the post of Delhi’s Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal has accelerated the attack on the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. During the Assembly election in Delhi he had not assailed Modi even once. Back then, the internal surveys indicated that Modi supporters were supporting the AAP which had suppressed Kejriwal’s inclination to blatantly attack Modi.
However, now he has announced that his party will fight on 300 seats. Interestingly, these seats have a strong BJP base. First, Kejriwal announced that his party would fight on all the 40 seats in Bihar, where the BJP leaders are hopeful to do well. likewise, the AAP is also reportedly targeting all the 29 seats of Madhya Pradesh, 48 of Maharashtra, 26 of Gujarat and all the seats of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Apart from this, it will also fight on all the seats of Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Apparently, Kejriwal is not going to fight in States where the BJP is not in a strong position.
Redundant Rahul
The Congress was aggressively publicising that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had called the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). This was the first time when the meeting of the CWC was called by the party vice-president instead of the party president, Sonia Gandhi. Both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi were not supposed to take part in this meeting. The meeting, seemingly an effort to put Rahul in the forefront, was however confined to only a sharing of feedback from senior leaders, something he has been doing since January 2013. Issues of alliances and policy matters weren’t a part of the discussion and nothing new was developed; which is why the party had to clarify that it was not a CWC meeting but that Rahul simply wanted to meet the members. Many leaders are said to have caused confusion over whether this was a CWC meeting or not. In fact, many of them reportedly prefer Sonia Gandhi to retain command over the party and always try to derail the hard work done by Rahul Gandhi.