The Congress has worked hard to attack the Government and keep it on the backfoot in the Budget Session. However, the party’s Parliamentary managers are not sure whether they will get support from other Opposition parties. The Congress will only get support from its alliance partners — RJD, JDU and DMK. Since the left is an unofficial alliance partner of the Congress, it will also back the party.
Apart from these, no other party will support the Congress. For long, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have been keeping distance from the Congress. The BJD has targeted the Congress for not allowing any work in the last two Parliament Sessions. At the all-party meeting, BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab raised this point and asked the Congress about issues like Vyapam scam and lalitgate due to which Parliament had been disrupted.
Since the Congress has forged an unofficial alliance with the left in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is also miffed with the party. She has instructed her party MPs to not support the Congress. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress has finalised a tie-up with DMK, and there is a chance that AIADMK will give its support to the Government. This means after the BJP and Congress, the three big parties in lok Sabha ie AIADMK, TMC and BJD will not support the Congress. Managers of the BJP and Government will try to take advantage of this situation.
Plan For Budget Session
The Congress is indulging in interesting politics for the Budget Session. In the two all-party meetings, the Congress had said to the Government that it must not bring any controversial Bill in the first half of the Session.
Managers of the Government say the Congress is bound to raise controversial issues, such as the JNU row as well as the suicide of Rohit Vemula. Since Rahul Gandhi visited both spots and had extended his support to students, he wants these issues to be raised in Parliament. So the leaders of the Congress are planning to interrupt the legislative work in the first phase of the Session ie February 23 to March 1.
Congress leaders are well aware that there is only one controversial Bill ie the GST. This Bill is being considered important from an economic perspective and most of the parties are agreeable. That is the reason why the Congress wants the focus to not be on the Bill in the first half of the
Session and wants it to be raised only in the second half.
But interestingly, the Congress is not ready to support the Bill even in the second half of the Session. Here comes the question — when the Congress is not going to support the Bill even in the second phase, then why should the Government pay heed to the party’s adviceIJ
Beni Babu’s Endless Saga
Beni Prasad Verma, former Central Minister and senior leader of UP Congress, is restless. His discomfort can be easily understood. After losing the lok Sabha Elections, he has been marginalised, while his rival Pl Punia is still maintaining his stature.
Punia is an important centre of Congress’s Dalit politics in UP. He is an MP and at the same time he is the chairman of the SC Commission, that is why he has got the status of a Cabinet Minister. He doesn’t have much role in sending Beni babu on the margins.
However, Beni is trying hard to bring himself back into mainstream politics. Recently, he has given many statements which have put him back in the news. Beni, who is said to be a staunch opponent of the BJP, first praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his schemes.
later, his love for Samajwadi Party suddenly came to the fore and he announced his support for Samajwadi Party candidates in MlC elections. When he realised his gaffe, he said that since the Congress was not in the fray, he supported the Samajwadi Party.
However, now the question is what will the Congress do with himIJ Till the lok Sabha Elections, he was considered close to Rahul Gandhi. But in the past two years, they have grown apart. Despite all this, some leaders of the party are seeing a distinct role for him in the Assembly Elections. The Congress is of the view that Benibabu has a good hold not only among Kurmis but also among other backward castes. So, he can be of help in the Assembly polls. This is also true that the BJP is also trying to woo Yadav voters. Meanwhile, Beni babu will always find a place in Samajwadi Party.
Mukul Roy’s Role In Tmc
Mamata Banerjee and Mukul Roy have come together again after a separation just as Nitish Kumar and lalan Singh had reunited in Bihar. To raise Roy’s stature, Mamata has officially made him number two in her party, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), by giving him the post of Vice-President.
Sources say that now Roy is devising the strategy for Assembly Elections.
He has developed a cordial relation with Mamata’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, and has also developed a good rapport with Mamata’s close aide, Derek O’Brien.
It should be noted that after sidelining Dinesh Trivedi and Roy, Didi had given all major responsibilities to Abhishek and Derek. The two leaders have become the face of the party and look after coordination with the Government and Opposition. They are set to continue with their roles.
Derek will be the face of the party, but strategy related decisions will be taken by Roy. He has started preparing the strategy for the campaign and selection of candidates. It is being said that he has prepared a list of more than two dozen MlAs who will not get tickets this time. He has also devised a strategy to expose the hidden game of the left and Congress, and at the same he is also planning to project TMC as the most powerful opponent of the BJP. Mamata has full confidence in all his decisions.
Rahul, The Decision-Maker
Now, the Congress is completely following Rahul’s agenda. Sonia Gandhi has reduced her role in strategic issues. The political line of the party is being decided by Rahul and it is he who has devised the strategy to be in an attacking mode in Parliament. The strategy to block GST Bill is also his brainchild.
Sources say it was the decision of Rahul and his team to show solidarity with JNU students after the anti-national sloganeering episode. Interestingly, many senior leaders were not in favour of this. They were of the view that this could be fatal for the party. They raised their voice, but eventually supported the move.
Delhi State President Ajay Maken and former Minister Anand Sharma also accompanied Rahul to the JNU campus. later, Sonia’s political secretary also backed Rahul’s move. Whether it is the decision to go into elections in Assam under the leadership of Tarun Gogoi or the decision to declare Captain Amarinder Singh as Punjab’s Chief Minister candidate, everything has been Rahul’s call.
Of course it was Ghulam Nabi Azad who went to Tamil Nadu to coax DMK for an alliance, but he went there with Rahul’s permission. The decision of a change of guard in Uttar Pradesh has also been awaiting Rahul’s nod.
Political Equation In J&K
Political instability in Jammu and Kashmir is expected to end soon. The two largest parties in the J&K Assembly — PDP and BJP — will continue their relationship and form the Government in the State. This was being speculated as MlAs of both parties don’t want to go into elections. Almost five years remain in the tenure of the State Assembly. Under this pressure, both parties were bound to take the decision to form the Government.
Now, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has given an indication that she will follow the path of her father and respect the decision taken by him — meaning she will form the Government with the BJP. Though Mehbooba has played an emotional card in the name of her father, but this seems to be a well thought out strategy. PDP leaders did not want the President’s Rule to continue. They knew that if they didn’t form the Government, the BJP would not lose anything and would enjoy the power through the Governor. The other possibility was that the BJP might have gone with NC. There was a possibility that the Congress and PDP wouldn’t continue for long and in that case, the BJP would have tried for the first Hindu CM in the State.
That is why Mehbooba decided to take a risk. Sources in PDP say she will not follow the common agenda like her father but will push her own party’s agenda. She will run the Government her way. She wants to connect with her old followers of the Valley. At the same time, she will try to increase her acceptability among Hurriyats.