After three years, the Congress is planning another chintan shivir this month. Though the venue has not been decided, there are speculations that it will be held in one of the Congress-ruled States ie Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand or Karnataka. Before that, a CWC meeting will be organised to reach consensus on Rahul Gandhi’s promotion to the post of party President as well as for finalising the agenda of the chintan shivir.
Before the meeting, Congress leaders have started a campaign for Rahul. After Kamal Nath and Kumari Selja, now Capt Amarinder Singh has put demands to promote Rahul, which is strange since just before May 19, ie before the results of five States were announced, the Captain was speaking in favour of Sonia Gandhi. He had said that Sonia should leave the post only when she would be tired. Now, he is saying that Sonia is 70 years old and must have tired so Rahul should take command.
However, sources say that leaders close to Sonia want her to lead and that there must be a superstructure in the Congress. But probably Sonia would not be ready for that.
BRAHMIN lEADERS ACTIVE
Before the Assembly Elections in UP, all Brahmin leaders of the BJP have become active. There is speculation that because KP Maurya has been made party President, a Brahmin face can also be projected as CM candidate of the party. While the names of Kalyan Singh and Smriti Irani are doing the rounds, some BJP leaders feel that almost 13 per cent of Brahmin voters have not decided anything yet and if a Brahmin face is projected, they might come into the BJP fold. That is perhaps why the BJP has given the Rajya Sabha seat from UP to Shiv Pratap Shukla.
However, this can’t be denied that Mahesh Sharma is the most active face among Brahmins. He also looks after the work at the Prime Minister’s parliamentary constituency. Sources say if the party thinks about projecting a Brahmin face, he will be first in the race. Apart from him, the national Vice-President of the party, Dinesh Sharma, is also active.
Central Minister Kalraj Mishra has also been spending more and more time in lucknow. His supporters say if the name of Kalyan Singh can be discussed, then the party should also think about Kalraj as he is younger than Kalyan. Before Shukla’s name was announced for Rajya Sabha, the BJP’s media in-charge Shrikant Sharma was also very active.
BJP DEAlS THE RIGHT CARDS
The BJP seems to have kept the caste equation in mind while finalising the names for Rajya Sabha. In UP, there is a need for Brahmin votes and polarisation of Hindu votes, so Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was sent to Jharkhand where elections will be held after three and a half years. In the same manner, MJ Akbar was sent to Madhya Pradesh from Jharkhand. From MP, Najma Heptulla is the Rajya Sabha member and her tenure will end in 2018, just before the Assembly Elections.
In the same manner, the BJP has hit the bull’s eye in giving a ticket to Vikas Mahatme. He belongs to Dhangar caste, for which Sharad Pawar had demanded reservation. In Rajasthan, the BJP sent an outsider, Venkaiah Naidu, but also kept the equation in mind while finalising names of the other three candidates. At the same time, the BJP also kept Vasundhara Raje in the loop. In Rajasthan, the BJP has fielded a second candidate and has tried to reap the benefit of contradiction of opponents. Now, it will be a compulsion for the Congress to push JMM candidate or the BJP can win both seats.
CONG’S POOR CHOICES
While the BJP has finalised names of Rajya Sabha candidates after giving proper consideration to political and caste equations and the strength of the Opposition, the Congress has only considered loyalty to the Gandhi family. Some of the names have even been finalised under compulsion. For example, some of the Congress leaders are not able to understand the logic behind Kapil Sibal’s candidature from UP.
Next year, Assembly Elections are scheduled in UP, and before that the Congress has sent Sibal to Rajya Sabha. The Congress was supposed to play the Brahmin, Dalit and Muslim card. It is said that strategist of the party, Prashant Kishor, was not in favour of giving Rajya Sabha tickets to any outsider, but nobody paid heed to him.
The Congress was only calculative for Uttarakhand, where Assembly polls will be held next year, and gave a ticket to Pradeep Tamta, a Dalit candidate. In the same manner, the Congress was compelled to give a ticket to P Chidambaram. The party has many spokespersons and almost all senior leaders in Rajya Sabha. Despite that if Chidambaram has been sent there, it only shows the legal compulsions of Sonia and Rahul. In fact, three lawyers — Chidambaram, Sibal and Vivek Tankha — have been sent to RS under this strategy.
From Karnataka, Oscar Fernandes has been sent to Rajya Sabha as he is loyal to the Gandhis. He always takes forward the interests of the family on every platform. Ambika Soni, another loyalist, has been sent to Rajya Sabha from Punjab. One experiment has been done in Chhattisgarh but seemingly it is of no use. lightweight Chhaya Verma was given a ticket in place of Mohsina Kidwai and State President Bhupesh Baghel was behind this.
lAWYERS IN RAJYA SABHA
Earlier, regional stalwarts who were stuck in legal battles would send big lawyers to Rajya Sabha. The same is happening now too, and this time, the Congress has joined the bandwagon. This year, in the biennial elections of Rajya Sabha, the Congress is sending three advocates. Sibal, who is looking after the legal battles of the party as well as Sonia and Rahul, will now represent UP. Chidambaram will represent Maharashtra and Tankha will represent Madhya Pradesh. The Congress had earlier sent a big advocate, Anand Sharma, to Rajya Sabha. Abhishek Manu Singhvi is already there. After all, the party will need experienced lawyers in the National Herald and AgustaWestland cases.
In the same manner, lalu Prasad Yadav, who had been convicted in the fodder scam, has sent Ram Jethmalani to Rajya Sabha. Ezaz Ahmed, a leader of RJD, was so annoyed with this move that he openly posed this question to lalu: “Has Jethmalani promised to get relief for him in the fodder scamIJ”
Mayawati has also sent her lawyer Satish Sharma to Rajya Sabha for the third consecutive term. Samajwadi Party has not sent any big lawyer to Rajya Sabha, but a party leader says Amar Singh is sufficient from all aspects.
WEAKENED BAGHEl, RAWAT
Bhupesh Baghel in Chhattisgarh and Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand have weakened themselves after Rajya Sabha ticket announcement. After they nominated Pradeep Tamta from Uttarakhand and Chhaya Verma from Chhattisgarh, all is not well in the party.
In Chhattisgarh, Baghel was at loggerheads with Ajit Jogi and all other leaders were supporting Baghel with a motive to get rid of Jogi. But as soon as Baghel became adamant about sending Chhaya to Rajya Sabha, all leaders turned hostile towards him. Now, people are saying that many opponents of Jogi can go with him and create problems for Baghel. Many leaders had camped in Delhi to put pressure to change the candidature of Chhaya, but Sonia and Rahul didn’t pay much attention to them.
On the other hand, Rawat’s supporters say he has strengthened his position by sending his close associate Tamta to Rajya Sabha. Tamta is a Dalit and will play a big role in the Assembly Elections. But sources say the party is not in a very strong position after Vijay Bahuguna and Harak Singh Rawat left it, so Rawat could have strengthened his position by sending a strong leader to Rajya Sabha. He should have sent a leader who could have saved him in the State from the attacks of the Opposition and would lobby for him in Delhi. Tamta would be incapable to doing this for him.