In Delhi, despite all the efforts of Rahul, the war between Ajay Maken and Sheila Dikshit continues. Many old supporters of Dikshit are supposedly running a campaign against Maken. While in Karnataka, Mallikarjun Kharge, BK Hariprasad and Oscar Fernandes are desperate to throw out CM Siddaramaiah
Despite Rahul Gandhi’s best efforts, infighting among party leaders is on the rise. Rahul tried hard to end the power struggle within the Congress, but it has reared its ugly head again. In Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh has decided not to fight Khadoor Sahib byelections, and this issue has become big. Though only Jagmeet Singh Brar has made a public statement, many leaders are fuming. They are saying that when the high command had decided on Ramanjit Singh Sikki’s name for this seat, then why did the Captain decide not to fightIJ
Also, many leaders are unhappy with West Bengal State President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Recently, senior leader of the State, Manas Bhunia, alleged during a meeting with Rahul Gandhi that Chowdhury only looks after his district. In West Bengal, Rahul’s biggest concern is bringing Chowdhury, Bhunia, and Deepa Dasmunsi on the same page.
In Kerala, certain Congress leaders are facing serious allegations in either the bar license scam or the solar panel scam. It is said that Congress leaders are deliberately taking each other’s names. After Oommen Chandy, now there is news that Ramesh Chennithala had allegedly been given a `2-crore bribe.
In Delhi, despite all the efforts of Rahul, the war between Ajay Maken and Sheila Dikshit continues. Many old supporters of Dikshit are supposedly running a campaign against Maken. While in Karnataka, Mallikarjun Kharge, BK Hariprasad and Oscar Fernandes are desperate to throw out CM Siddaramaiah.
NGO AGENDA OF CONGRESS
The politics over the completion of 10 years of MNREGA has been well thought out, and the Congress has gone far and wide to take credit for it. Rahul himself went to Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, from where Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had started this scheme 10 years ago. The Narendra Modi Government, which had declared this scheme a monumental failure, also celebrated when it completed 10 years. The Central Government and the BJP are emphasising that the funding of the scheme is being continued.
The reason for all this is simple the Congress prefers politics that was the trademark of NAC under Sonia’s chairmanship. Most of the members of that council were from the NGO fraternity and they had set the agenda of the UPA Government accordingly. Rahul is moving forward on the same agenda. When he went to Bundelkhand after a long gap, he sent across a message that the Congress will work for the Dalits, the tribals and the downtrodden.
That is the reason why Rahul is highlighting the completion of a decade of MNREGA in a big way. He will meet all State Presidents of the Congress and discuss the scheme with them. Sources in the party say Jairam Ramesh is guiding Rahul on this agenda. Apart from MNREGA, the forest Act is the other issue. Again on Ramesh’s advice, Rahul will be raising this issue.
WHAT WIll HAPPEN TO JOGIIJ
The Congress will not take any decision on former CM of Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi, in a hurry. The disciplinary committee, which was assigned to look into the allegations against him, has given sufficient indications that he won’t be thrown out of the party anytime soon. This was expected because the Congress was worried that if Jogi is sacked, he could launch his own party and that could create problems for the Congress in the elections.
It is said that State President Bhupesh Baghel did a lot of lobbying to ensure the expulsion of Jogi. He met senior leaders, such as AK Antony and Motilal Vora, and is said to have showed them proof of the fact that Jogi had prepared a strategy with CM Raman Singh to compel the Congress candidate to withdraw from the Antagarh Assembly byelections in 2014.
Nobody raised questions on the proof given by Baghel but nobody gave any assurance to him either. On behalf of Jogi, his wife Renu has taken command. She also came to Delhi to root for him. Apart from that, it is also being said that Vora is not happy with Baghel and that is why he has not created an adverse situation for Jogi. So, there is greater possibility that Jogi will continue in the party. It is also possible that the decision on Jogi’s suspension will be reversed soon.
SCAM-HIT KERAlA GOVT
During the UPA II regime, a new scam was unearthed almost daily and a new minister came under the scanner. It is a similar story with the Kerala Government. The ambit of two scams, which have been unearthed recently, is increasing and a new minister is facing allegations on a daily basis. The bar license scam and solar panel scam have left CM Oommen Chandy, his family members, the Government and its alliance partners in grave problems.
Two more ministers, Ramesh Chennithala and VS Sivakumar, have come under scanner in the bar license scam. Chennithala used to be State Congress President and is presently the Home Minister of Kerala, while Sivakumar is the Health Minister. The head of the association of bar owners, Biju Ramesh, claimed to have paid Rs 2 crore to Chennithala and Rs 25 lakh to Sivakumar. The Excise Minister had resigned when a case was registered against him, but when the High Court stayed the matter, he became a minister again.
The main accused in the solar panel scam, Saritha Nair, has levelled allegations against Chandy and his son Chandy Oommen. Saritha claimed she gave more than Rs 2 crore to Chandy and his Energy Minister, Aryadan Muhammed. Now Saritha has given a CD to the investigating agency. In this CD, talks between Saritha, her partner Biju Radhakrishnan, and Congress leaders have been recorded.
ADVOCATING FOR RS SEATS
Congress leaders, who are by profession lawyers, had a comfortable life during the two UPA regimes. Almost all of them were ministers. However, most of them faced defeat in the last lok Sabha Elections, while some didn’t contest. Now, the term of those who were in Rajya Sabha will also come to an end. So, lawyer leaders are seemingly very busy and active. In fact, they are trying to influence Sonia and Rahul to secure a berth in Rajya Sabha.
Kapil Sibal wants a Rajya Sabha seat either from Punjab or Bihar. In Bihar, the Congress is not in a position to get any seat on its own and the Nitish Kumar-lalu Prasad Yadav combo will not leave any seat readily. That is why Sibal is concentrating more on Punjab from where three seats will be vacated this year. like Sibal, P Chidambaram has also suddenly become active, apparently in the hope of a Rajya Sabha seat either from Karnataka or Uttarakhand.
The third lawyer leader is Anand Sharma; he is already in Rajya Sabha but his tenure will end soon. The Congress will not get even a single seat from Rajasthan, so he is trying to secure a seat from Himachal Pradesh. Manish Tewari is also trying to enter Rajya Sabha from Punjab by pushing aside the chance, if any, of his fellow advocate leader Ashwini Kumar. No seat is visible for former Foreign Affairs and law Minister Salman Khurshid.
WEST BENGAl STRATEGY
In West Bengal, the political situation is almost the same as it was soon after the lok Sabha Elections. Once again, the BJP and TMC are pitted against each other. BJP’s four big leaders have addressed rallies in West Bengal. In their rallies, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Smriti Irani attacked the State Government and its governance. Shah had kept mum on the chit fund issue for the past few months, but is now raising it again. He said that during the TMC regime, only the chit fund industry has gone up in West Bengal. Now it is clear that this fight will continue till the next Assembly Elections.
However, people are saying that BJP’s attack will only benefit Mamata Banerjee. In fact, leaders of the left and Congress are claiming that the BJP and TMC have a hidden agreement: If the BJP becomes aggressive against TMC, the campaign of the left will weaken. BJP leaders are aware of this fact, so they are confident that Mamata will take things in the right spirit.
On the other hand, Mamata has also started showing her proximity to the Congress. She supported Sonia and Rahul in the National Herald case. So, on one hand she is puncturing the claims of closeness with the BJP by siding with the Congress, and on the other hand, she is only benefitting from BJP’s attack. These two factors are quite important for polarisation of minority votes.