In Haryana, the INlD and the HJC are all set to join the NDA. In Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi, who was once with the BJP, is finalising his alliance with the party. BS Yeddyurappa's KJP will also join the NDA. And if sources are to be believed, Ajit Singh's RlD will once again come to the NDA fold
Attempts are being made in the BJP to expand the NDA. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister, there were as many as 25 parties in this alliance. The BJP is once again trying to woo some of the old partners, along with a few new ones.
TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, who used to be the NDA convener during Vajpayee’s regime, met many leaders of the non-Congress parties in Delhi, including BJP president Rajnath Singh. Keeping in mind the political compulsions of Andhra Pradesh, Naidu may join hands with the BJP. He is likely to share the dais with Narendra Modi on October 2. In the same manner, the AGP is once again coming closer to the BJP.
In Haryana, the INlD and the HJC are all set to join the NDA. In Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi, who was once with the BJP, is finalising his alliance with the party; in Bihar, the Rashtriya lok Samata Party of Arun Kumar and Upendra Kushwaha, who were earlier with the JD(U), will join the NDA.
BS Yeddyurappa’s KJP will also join the NDA. And if sources are to be believed, Ajit Singh’s RlD will once again come to the NDA fold. So, the BJP leadership has added around a dozen pre-poll partners, and it is almost certain that ADMK leader J Jayalalithaa and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik may join the BJP-led alliance after elections.
Congress looks for allies
The Congress, too, is working hard to expand the number of alliance partners. Over the years the UPA’s size has shrunk and the number of MPs of other partners has gone down to as low as 20. So, before the 2014 elections, the party is trying to woo some of its old partners as well as new ones. Feelers have been sent to the left parties as well.
The Congress believes that the idea of secularism will bring many parties towards it, especially when the BJP has announced Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. It is on this issue that it believes that the left will have no choice but to support the UPA.
Then, there are others like Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav — both have got relief from the Union Government. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar and lalu Prasad Yadav are on the Congress radar. The party is also going soft on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, besides being in talks with M Karunanidhi and Vijayakanth in Tamil Nadu, and Jaganmohan Reddy and K Chandrashekhar Rao in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Antony and controversies
AK Antony has made the record of the longest serving Defence Minister in the country. He is seen as an honest politician but his regime has been full of controversiesIJ The most recent incident is the controversy surrounding VK Singh — first about the age row, then the coup hullabaloo and now the alleged payment to Jammu & Kashmir ministers by the Army.
Before this, the issue of kickback in the purchase of Tatra trucks had come. So had the AgustaWestland scam of around `300 crore. It was during Antony’s regime that the report of the ammunition shortage came out. Worse, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Antony’s colleague, has said that there are a lot of factions within the Army. Apart from these, there were several incidents of land allotment irregularities and sexual assaults of Army officers.
SCINDIA’S growing POWER
Though Jyotiraditya Scindia has been made the chairman of Madhya Pradesh’s Congress poll campaign, his team has taken control of the entire organisation and the veterans like Kantilal Bhuria and Ajay Singh have been marginalised.
Scindia’s men have taken control of Bhopal’s Congress Committee office. He will sit in the room allotted to Ajay Singh, the leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, at the PCC office; at the same time, Scindia’s associates are being called from Gwalior to show their dominance at the PCC office. It is believed that some more people will be called from Gwalior and Delhi.
The SP-JD(U) connection
The parties in power in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are pursuing bizarre Muslim politics. In both the States, minorities are around 15 per cent of the total population. With an eye on their votes, the Samajwadi Party and the JD(U) are bending over backwards to appease them. After the Muzaffarnagar riots, many Hindu leaders have tendered their resignations from the Samajwadi Party. Former MlA Mahak Singh and his son have resigned from the party. But Mulayam Singh is least bothered. When Sompal Shastri refused the party ticket from the Baghpat seat, the Samajwadi Party promptly announced a Muslim candidate.
As for Nitish Kumar, recently he gave a lecture at the National Minority Commission in Delhi. There he enumerated a long list of work being done by the Bihar Government for the welfare of minorities. The State Government now plans to put hoardings all over the State in Urdu. According to government sources, in next three months many popular schemes will be introduced for minorities. So, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are following similar policies vis-à-vis Modi, Muslims..
Jogi’s ticket formula
There is a million dollar question: How many Assembly tickets will the family of Ajit Jogi, former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, getIJ Jogi and his wife are already MlAs. Now there is demand to give ticket to their son, Amit Jogi.
When this question was asked to senior Congress leader Motilal Vora, he replied that the decision would be taken by the party high command. The decision will have an impact in the neighbouring Madhya Pradesh as well, as Digvijay Singh, too, wants tickets for many of his family members.
Jogi supporters claim that they should be given tickets because of their abilities to win elections. The senior Congress leadership is aware of the importance of Jogi and it can’t take the risk to infuriate him, particularly when elections are round the corner.