Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has prepared strategies for all Assembly Elections scheduled before the 2019 lok Sabha Elections. Sources in AAP’s election strategy team say he has selected those States where leaders of the Congress and BJP are either facing charges or allegations of corruption. In such States, he envisions scope for his so-called honest politics.
Under this strategy, he has picked Punjab and Goa where elections are scheduled for next year. In Punjab, leaders from the ruling Akali Dal and BJP as well as the Congress are embroiled in controversies. In the same manner, leaders of both parties in Goa are under lens in the mining scam. That is the reason why Kejriwal has decided to fight elections in these two States.
By the end of next year, elections are scheduled in two States, and AAP will be fighting in Himachal Pradesh. Sources in AAP say leaders of the Congress as well as BJP are either facing corruption or some other charges in Himachal.
Similarly, Kejriwal has selected Chhattisgarh for 2018. He will not fight in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka, but will certainly go for Chhattisgarh for the same reasons as mentioned above. According to the blueprint of AAP, the party will fight lok Sabha Elections, and after that, it will fight in Maharashtra and Haryana.
HUNT ON FOR POll SYMBOl
Ever since Nitish Kumar took command of JDU, the party has desperately been looking for a national election symbol. At present, its symbol is an arrow, but due to this the party had to bear huge losses in the last elections. The party may a face big jolt in the near future too if it continues with the same symbol, as Shiv Sena and JMM also have a similar symbol. That is why leaders of JDU want to change their symbol.
leaders of the party will first talk to HD Deve Gowda and try to get the old symbol of Janata Dal ie the disk. But Gowda is probably not ready for this and has blocked this election symbol. So, now it is being said that the party will try for the symbol of banyan tree, which is with the Samajwadi Janata Party. Kamal Morarka is the leader of Samajwadi Janata Party, which will probably merge with JDU.
However, one of the leaders of JDU says that banyan tree is the symbol of a particular religion so there may be some objections. Moreover, this symbol doesn’t suit them politically also. So, the party may choose a tree instead of a banyan tree. leaders may soon talk to the Election Commission in this regard. Apart from this, the symbol of a tractor was also considered, but many leaders didn’t like the idea.
TWO PRECIOUS RS SEATS
Two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand will be vacated in July. Dhiraj Prasad Sahu of the Congress and MJ Akbar of the BJP will retire on July 7. The BJP, which is in power in the State, is eyeing both seats. According to the equation in the Jharkhand Assembly, no party has the required numbers to win the other seat. In this scenario, BJP leaders aim to win the other seat also.
The total strength of the Jharkhand Assembly is 81, while two seats are vacant. Of those two, one seat belongs to the Congress and the other to the BJP. Despite that, 28 votes will be required to win one Rajya Sabha seat.
At present, the BJP has 42 MlAs and its partner All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) has five. Two Independents, Geeta Koda and Bhanu Pratap Sahi, are giving support to the Government. In this scenario, the alliance in power has total strength of 49 and it will require seven more votes to win another seat of Rajya Sabha.
On the other hand, JMM has 19 MlAs, the Congress has six, and Babulal Marandi has two. This means the Opposition has a total strength of 27. They will require only one vote but there is another problem — JMM wants that seat, and the Congress doesn’t want to leave it either.
For JMM, candidate MlAs of Marandi will not vote. In this situation, if the BJP has a strong candidate then probability will be rather high.
TAlE OF A SlOGAN IN UP
During the 90s, BSP’s politics in Uttar Pradesh was totally against Manuvaad. Kanshi Ram and Mayawati targetted Manuvaadis and thus Dalits flocked to embrace the party. “Jai Bheem” was their other slogan which was not known to many people of the Hindi belt. Some parties in Maharashtra were on the name of Babasaheb and their leaders too raised the slogan of “Jai Bheem”. Kanshi Ram and Mayawati brought this slogan to UP. Hence, BSP was established after opposing Manuvaad and raising “Jai Bheem” slogan. Though later, when Mayawati started wooing Brahmin voters, she ditched the same anti-Manuvaad slogans.
What’s interesting is that now the Congress has taken up what Mayawati had left. In the Nagpur rally, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi vociferously attacked the Manuvaadis. He claimed that it was the Congress that finished Manuvaad with the help of Dr BR Ambedkar. Now the question is if Manuvaad is finished, then what is the point in opposing ManuvaadisIJ
However, the Congress has also started Brahmin politics in UP. The party has roped in Prashant Kishor for the election campaign in the State, and it is now being said that the party might project a strong Brahmin face there. In this situation, it is tough to understand the motive of the party’s anti-Manuvaadi slogans.
On the other hand, BSP has a strong organisation at the grassroot level in UP and has many people to raise the slogan of “Jai Bheem”. The Congress has a dearth of workers there. Kishor has also pointed out that the Congress doesn’t have sufficient workers in UP and whatever workers are there are leaders on ground. But Rahul and his team are confident that attacking Manuvaad and using the slogan of “Jai Bheem” will turn around the fate of the party.
YADAV POlITICS IN BIHAR
Since Sharad Yadav is no more the JDU President, Yadav politics is expected to intensify in Bihar. leaders of BJP and JDU have become active. When Nitish took command of the party, lalu Prasad Yadav kept mum on the very first day. Next day, the RJD chief congratulated Nitish but at the same time said that Sharad would take retirement from politics as JDU had not given him the fourth term. On the other hand, leaders of JDU are saying that Sharad voluntarily gave up the post.
BJP leaders are saying that Sharad’s tenure was coming to an end, but Nitish didn’t wait for 90 days. Party leaders are seeking answers from Nitish, maybe in a bid to woo Yadav votes.
It is being said that Yadav MlAs from many parties are in contact with the leaders of RJD. Victory of RJD in the Assembly Elections proved that lalu is the real leader of Yadavs, and Muslim votes are also intact with him. The same equation will be valid for victory in future. lalu is nurturing the same equation and is ready to give command of this equation to son Tejasvi. This might cause some problem for JDU and BJP. On the other hand, the BJP feels Tejasvi will not be able to move things like his father.
NO DEARTH OF CANDIDATES
In the biennial election of Rajya Sabha, the Congress is facing huge loss. But amazingly, the number of candidates in the party is continuously on the rise. Some of the veteran leaders are lobbying for seats, and some new faces have suddenly come to the fore.
Former IAS officer K Raju, who is said to be close to Rahul Gandhi, is one of the strong candidates for Rajya Sabha. He is preparing the Dalit strategy for the party. Though at present these are only claims, as there is no suitable seat for him. Probably the Congress will put forward Sushil Shinde as the party’s Dalit face and he will be sent to Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra.
Dr Shakeel Ahmad is trying for a Rajya Sabha seat either from Bihar or Jharkhand. leaders who are lobbying for Ahmad argue that if he is given a Rajya Sabha seat, the party will benefit in UP. Though there is least possibility that he will get any seat either from Bihar or Jharkhand.
Ajay Maken is one of the new and most recent names. He is supposedly not feeling comfortable in Delhi politics. He has visited Punjab many times recently and is trying to get a seat from there. President of Mahila Congress, Shobha Oza, is eying Mohsina Kidwai’s seat from Chhattisgarh. It is common knowledge that P Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal have been old claimants.
lEADING THE WAY
When Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister and Amit Shah took command of the BJP, a Margdarshak Mandal was formed. It faced a lot of flak, with critiques saying it was formed only to put senior leaders on the margins. But now almost all parties are forming Margdarshak Mandals.
When lK Advani was made the Margdarshak, it was JDU which made a lot of hue and cry, but now it has made Sharad Yadav its Margdarshak! New President of JDU, Nitish, has said that Sharad will play the role of a guide and philosopher of the party. While Sharad, with tearful eyes, said his existence is only due to politics and not due to the party. After becoming Margdarshak, he could not hide his grief.
In the same manner, almost all senior leaders are in the role of Margdarshaks. leaders such as Motilal Vora, Janardan Dwivedi, and Oscar Fernandes are part of the Margdarshak Mandal of the Congress, and probably some more names will be included in it very soon.
Among the regional parties, Akali Dal and DMK are doing the same. Sukhbir Singh Badal is taking all the decisions instead of Parkash Singh Badal, and MK Stalin is taking command of DMK instead of Karunanidhi.