In four Congress-ruled States, party leaders are publicly demanding that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi change some Chief Ministers, such as Prithviraj Chavan, BS Hooda, Tarun Gogoi, Lal Thanhawla, et al. There is great discontent against leaders in States like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala as well
Narendra Modi has discussed strategies with the general secretaries of his party to ensure victory in the Assembly Elections. It is a strong message indicating that the history of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-Government will not be repeated and the organisation will not weaken.
This year, Assembly Elections are scheduled in five States and either the Congress or its allied partners are ruling in four, and Delhi is under President’s rule. The BJP is expecting that it will win in all these States. The BJP leaders think that the party will get enough seats in the Jammu region to ensure that the Government cannot be formed in the State without their help.
Next year, there will be elections in Bihar and the BJP is hopeful of winning again. In 2016, Assembly Elections are scheduled in States like West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam where the BJP doesn’t have a strong base. However, if the party wins in the elections scheduled for this year, it will be ruling in 10 States. The strategy of the BJP is to form the Government in at least half of the States in the next five years.
CONGRESS CMs IN TROUBLE
In four Congress-ruled States, party leaders are publicly demanding that the Chief Ministers (CMs) be changed. The former CM of Maharashtra, Narayan Rane, has written a letter to Sonia Gandhi stating that Prithviraj Chavan needs to be replaced.
Likewise, Haryana’s leader and former central Minister Kumari Shailja has said that if BS Hooda is not removed, the Congress will face an ugly defeat again. Next on target is Assam’s CM Tarun Gogoi; 40 MLAs camped in Delhi against him for several days. Mizoram CM Lal Thanhawla has landed himself in a problem too. In Jharkhand, former Central Minister Rameshwar Oraon has targetted several leaders of the State, especially PCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat and has held the leadership of the State responsible for his defeat from Lohardaga. In Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh and State president Pratap Singh Bajwa have opened a front against each other. There is great discontent against leaders in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala as well.
CONFLICT IN RAJYA SABHA
The first test of the Central Government would be to pass the Ordinance by virtue of which Nripendra Mishra was appointed the Principal Secretary of PM. Reportedly, the Congress will not create any hurdle on the issue because the party feels that appointing the Principal Secretary is the prerogative of the Prime Minister. So, there won’t be any problem in passing the Bill in Rajya Sabha, which changes the rules of TRAI.
There are almost half a dozen Bills pending related to education. When Kapil Sibal was the HRD Minister, he tried to persuade the BJP to pass the Bills related to education but the BJP had not lent a hand. Likewise, there were Bills related to family welfare and finance, which P Chidambaram tried to get passed but the Left and the BJP had not helped again. If the present Government tries to get all these Bills passed, the present Opposition likewise will not lend support.
DIGVIJAYa SINGH CHANGING COLOURS?
Digvijaya Singh has repeated what he had said in 2012. He attacked the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid of Delhi by calling him “communal” yet again. Back then, the Shahi Imam had appealed to vote for the Samajwadi Party. At that time Singh was in-charge of the Uttar Pradesh Congress and had roped in Rahul Gandhi for the elections. To polarise Muslim voters, Singh had also raised the issue of the Batla House encounter, calling it fake.
However, after his formula flopped, he retried it in the Lok Sabha elections attempting to malign Modi’s image by levelling allegations against him and that failed too. But it seems that his view is changing now. It must be kept in mind that Singh has been soft on Hindutva within the party circle. He had suggested that a policy of soft Hindutva should be adopted to counter Modi. Now, he thinks that fierce politics of Muslim polarisation may harm the Congress.
LAWYER MINISTERS RETURN TO WORK
About the functioning of the Congress-led UPA Government, it was always said that the party was in problem due to its Ministers who were lawyers by profession. Questions were raised against lawyers who had been included in the joint committee to prepare the Lokpal Bill with Anna Hazare. Most of them were lawyers and they raised some complicated points and the experiments failed. Now all of them have returned to work. Of them, Ashwini Kumar and Mani Shankar Aiyar are in the Rajya Sabha and Veerappa Moily is in the Lok Sabha. Sibal and Khurshid lost the elections, while Chidambaram and Manish Tewari had not fought. Sibal and Khursid have also got their Bar license renewed and started practice.
AKHILESH AND HIS NEW VISION FOR UP
In Uttar Pradesh, after a terrible defeated, Akhilesh Yadav has taken various steps. He has ousted those who have got the status of State Ministers. He has taken back the red beacons of around three dozen people and has also dissolved the organisation in the State, though he is continuing as the State party president. Probably he has talked to Mulayam Singh Yadav and sought full liberty for making changes in the Government and organisation. Though at the same time, there are apprehensions that he would be able to do all these as per his wishes.
Reportedly, he wants to ensure changes according to his wishes. Leaders close to him say that change is feasible only when he gets full liberty. But this would not be possible till he does not get freedom from leaders like Mulayam, his brothers Shivpal and Ramgopal, Azam Khan, Ambika Chaudhary and Rajendra Chaudhary.