The Government has got big relief before the beginning of the Monsoon Session. The Congress is preparing a strategy to attack the Government, but it will not get the support of other Opposition parties on several issues. On the issue of land Bill, many parties are with the Congress, but on the controversies surrounding Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, not many parties will back it.
Many regional kshatrapas have decided not to attack Sushma. Probably, leaders of Samajwadi Party, RJD, BJD, AIADMK and TMC have decided to be sympathetic towards her. If the kshatrapas show sympathy towards Sushma, then Vasundhara will automatically get the same benefit.
The Congress will raise the issue of lalit Modi and seek the resignation of Sushma and Vasundhara. It can get support from left parties, but they are not in the mood to stall Parliament over the issue. The left parties want discussion on all issues of the controversy.
Sources say left leaders can demand a statement from the Government, but will not be adamant on the resignation of the two leaders. It is being said that the Congress discussed several issues in the meeting which was held to decide the strategy for Parliament Session.
The Congress is well aware of the stand taken by other Opposition parties and that is the reason why it has prepared a list of several other controversial issues. The meeting was held at Sonia Gandhi’s residence last Tuesday where issues like the land Ordinance, Vyapam scam and talks with Pakistan were discussed at length.
In the meeting, Congress leaders agreed on the fact that the issue of land Bill would be raised strongly. The party has been successful in creating a sentiment against the Bill in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). So in all probability, the Government is not going to put this Bill in Parliament because the JPC report would not come in time.
The Congress is also expected to attack the Government for raising the issue of promulgation of Ordinance thrice. If the Bill doesn’t get passed in this session, then the Government has to promulgate the Ordinance for the fourth time. The Congress will use this to create ruckus, and the kshatrapas will apparently support it.
Apart from this, the Congress will raise questions over the decision to start talks with Pakistan. The party is jubilant that Pakistan has raised the issue of Kashmir again and has declined to give voice sample of top leader of lashkar-e-Taiba, Zakiur Rehman lakhvi. Vyapam scam will be the third issue for debate.
BJP STRATEGY SUCCESSFUl
BJP leaders are patting themselves on the back as they believe their strategy on the lalit Modi row and Vyapam scam worked. As soon as the controversies erupted, the party had decided that no minister or CM would resign. That was the reason why party leaders and the Government defended their ministers. The BJP was of the view that if no resignation was sought, people would eventually forget the issues. Its leaders said that when new issues would come up, the media would forget the old ones. And this turned out to be true. When the news of deaths related to Vyapam scam started pouring in, the media forgot the lalit Modi row. Now, the issue has died down and nobody is asking for Sushma’s and Vasundhara’s resignation.
Similarly, the issue of Smriti Irani’s fake degree has vanished. CBI investigation has started in the Vyapam scam and soon this issue will also be forgotten.
In the beginning itself, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that the Government would prefer high-level fair investigation. On this basis, the BJP is taking credit for the CBI investigation. There will be chaos over these issues in the upcoming Parliament Session, but the focus would be on the land Bill, Real Estate Bill and GST Bill.
POlITICS OF RJD AND JDU
RJD and JDU are indulging in different politics. Both parties have different ideologies and there is no unanimity among the leaders. leaders of JDU are apprehensive of lalu Prasad Yadav’s brand of politics. A senior JDU leader said lalu is giving statements against Narendra Modi and the BJP which have the potential to pave the way for polarisation on communal lines.
Recently, lalu had said that there would be a fight of Mandal vs Kamandal, and then he said that Kamandal would be broken by a stone. This statement may go in favour of the BJP. Basically, lalu is trying to polarise OBCs, especially the Yadavs, but this has made OBCs and Dalits apprehensive. On the other hand, Nitish Kumar has announced scholarship for forwards, and a plan to ban alcohol. At the same time Nitish is also cosying up to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal.
In a way, Nitish politics is just the opposite of lalu’s. Nitish is focussing on women and youths of all classes, and is raising issues of good governance, development and rule of law. That is why RJD leaders are apprehensive that Nitish might go alone or with Kejriwal. For now, all eyes are on the two leaders.
SEAT FIGHT In bihar
There will be a big fight in the grand alliance of RJD, JDU and Congress. They were waiting for the results of MlC elections and now seat-sharing arrangements will be made. This, however, will not be an easy task. The JDU wants to fights on maximum seats. Nitish wants to be number one with maximum number of seats. leaders feel that if JDU doesn’t fight on maximum seats, then questions will be raised on the leadership of Nitish. Apart from this, maximum number of MlAs are with JDU, so naturally it will claim maximum number of seats.
On the other hand, lalu’s party won’t accept less than 100 seats at any cost. lalu wants equal number of seats as he wants to give a message to his core voters that their strength will not diminish after the elections. On the other hand, Nitish wants to fight on more seats to give the message that even after elections command will be in his hands.
The Congress is making claim on at least 40 seats; its leaders will not settle for anything less. It is being said that even Nitish wants to give those many seats to the Congress since he will get two benefits from this. One, Nitish will try to get Congress tickets for leaders who will not be given ticket from JDU, as he has done in MlC elections. At the same time, along with the Congress, he will be able to get more seats than RJD and will be free from lalu’s pressure.
WHO WIll BE CM CANDIDATEIJ
All parties in Bihar are in the race to announce the CM candidate. The Congress had taken the lead and announced that Nitish would be CM candidate. At the same time, the Congress had compelled lalu to accept Nitish as his leader. However, BJP MP from Patna Sahib seat Shatrughan Sinha has claimed that lJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan is fit to be the CM, calling him an able candidate. This despite the fact that Paswan said that there is no CM candidate from his party. Even though lalu has accepted the leadership of Nitish, he thinks Upendra Kushwaha is CM material for NDA. Kushwaha’s party has also declared him the CM candidate.
In the same manner, Pappu Yadav favours Jitan Ram Manjhi. According to Pappu, Manjhi will be the best CM candidate. Central Minister Radha Mohan Singh is in favour of Sushil Modi, while in all public meetings, slogans are being raised for Shahnawaz Hussain.