Under the Congress leadership, Nitish Kumar can bring Samajwadi Party and the left parties on one platform to campaign against the BJP.He did this experiment in Bihar. He put his image at stake and forged an alliance with the RJD and Congress; soon he will bring the CPI and CPM to the platform as well
There is a million dollar question — who will hold the command of the anti-BJP campaign in the countryIJ Earlier, there was an anti-Congress campaign and leaders of the left parties led them. In the same manner, there are campaigns against the BJP. But interestingly, left parties are not coming to the fore to lead these. CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury are not fit for the role. CPI’s former General Secretary AB Bardhan is active, but his age and the position of his party won’t help him build confidence among the regional kshatrapas.
This is why it is being said that former Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, can play this role. Under the Congress leadership, he can bring Samajwadi Party and the left parties on one platform to campaign against the BJP. He has done this experiment in Bihar. He put his image at stake and forged an alliance with the RJD and Congress; soon he will bring the CPI and CPM to the platform as well.
Nitish has also become active outside Bihar. When he went to Mumbai to see an ailing lalu Prasad, he also met Congress General Secretary Mohan Prakash, who was admitted in another hospital at the time. Nitish can take a national role in place of Sharad Yadav and can try to build an anti-BJP alliance after talking to leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Naveen Patnaik, Prakash Karat, Karunanidhi and K Chandrashekhar Rao.
BJP, SHIV SENA to FIGHT TOGETHER
In Maharashtra, the BJP and Shiv Sena will fight elections together and the decades-old alliance will continue. It doesn’t matter whether Amit Shah goes to Matoshree to meet Uddhav Thackeray or not; it will not affect the alliance. Earlier, BJP leaders went to Matoshree to pay respects to Bal Thackeray, but things changed after his death. Shah can meet Uddhav anywhere to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement.
Reliable sources in the BJP say after lok Sabha results in Haryana, the party was in a mood to part ways with Kuldeep Bishnoi. That is the reason why Shah didn’t meet him, and the alliance was over. But this is not the case with Shiv Sena. Before this, the BJP had not broken the alliance in Bihar. Shah has given a clear cut message to party leaders that Sena is an old ally and has helped at the time of crisis. In reply to this, Uddhav wrote in Saamana that Hindutva was not the basis of alliance in Bihar and Haryana. Both parties agree in-principle, so there will not be any hassle for two or four seats.
SHORTAGE OF SPOKESPERSONS
It seems that the Congress is facing a shortage of spokespersons. Very few leaders are coming before the media and only two or three leaders are active on Twitter to present the party’s views on important issues. When the Congress was in power, many leaders held press conferences and issued statements, but most of them are silent now. leaders like Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and P Chidambaram are giving few statements. Only Anand Sharma, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Manish Tewari are available to the media.
One of the vocal spokespersons of the Congress, the Twitter-friendly Dr Shakeel Ahmad, is on foreign tour. That is why Ajay Maken has temporarily been given charge of Haryana. Another spokesperson Randeep Surjewala is busy in elections in his State. Assembly Elections are scheduled in Haryana and he has to fight there. At the same time, Surjewala is close to Bhupinder Singh Hooda, which is why his responsibility increases.
Sandeep Dikshit is not being seen after lok Sabha results. In the past three and a half months, he has given statements only once or twice. Rita Bahuguna Joshi is also keeping away from the media. The old faces, who put the party’s views on TV channels, are also out of the scene. That is why, maybe, only BJP leaders are being seen everywhere.
lIKE MOTHER, lIKE SON
Sonia and Rahul Gandhi’s perception about their constituencies has changed drastically after lok Sabha Elections. It must be noted that the margin of Rahul’s victory in the lok Sabha Elections had reduced in comparison to previous elections. BJP’s Smriti Irani gave him a good fight. At the same time, Kumar Vishwas had brought the people out of their homes and persuaded them to speak against Rahul. After that, Congress leaders’ views about Raebareli and Amethi have changed.
That is why when Sonia went to her constituency this time, she roamed around on foot. This was probably the first time, besides the election campaign, when she met the general public of her constituency and enquired about their well-being. Before her, Rahul had also been to his constituency and met the people. Reliable sources of the Congress say the managers of both constituencies have been instructed that continuous contact must be established with voters. Irani’s visit to Amethi made them more cautious. Apart from this, it is being said that Sanjay Singh’s son Anant Vikram Singh might join the BJP and fight against Rahul. This has also made Congress leaders cautious.
POlITICS OVER GOVERNORS
The Congress is in no mood to stop politics on Governors. First, the Congress high command instructed all Governors appointed by the UPA Government to not put in their papers, creating a deadlock between the Centre and Governors. Officers-turned-Governors started resigning but the Congress leaders didn’t put in their papers. When Virendra Kataria and Kamal Beniwal were removed, and K Sankaranarayanan and Sheila Dikshit were targetted, only then the two Governors resigned.
Now, when the Central Government is appointing new Governors, Congress leaders are saying it should be done in consultation with the State Governments. First, Karnataka’s CM Siddharamaiah raised questions that he was not consulted while appointing Vajubhai Vala as Governor of the State. Then, Kerala’s CM Oommen Chandy raised the same question when P Sathasivam was appointed.
Though it is not binding on the Central Government to consult the State Government at the time of appointment of Governor, after the Sarkaria Commission report, a tradition started that the Central Government will take the advice of State Governments while doing so. Even Rajnath Singh had spoken to Mamata Banerjee before appointing Keshari Nath Tripathi as the Governor of West Bengal.