The BJP incharge of Uttar Pradesh Amit Shah wants to select candidates in the State on the formula adopted in Gujarat. An indication to this effect has been given by him on the strategy to be taken up since his elevation to the post of general secretary.
In a meeting with State leaders, he said that in Gujarat, it is the party that fights the election and not the candidates. Interestingly, the BJP fights the election in Gujarat under its Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s name. So, UP may also be gearing up to fight in Modi’s name.
Sources say that no sitting MP will be denied a ticket. However, many want to change their constituency. Probably this time, the BJP president Rajnath Singh will not fight from Ghaziabad. Veteran lalji Tandon is ready to leave his luknow seat for Modi as is MM Joshi prepared to give up his Varanasi seat. Varun Gandhi is set to fight from Sultanpur, leaving his Pilibhit seat. Animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi will move to Pilibhit from Anwala
But MPs like Yogi Aditya Nath will fight from Gorakhpur, Ramakant Yadav from Azamgarh, Ram Shankar from Agra, Rajendra Agarwal from Meerut and Kamlesh Pasawan from Bansgaon. They have retained their respective seats.
350 seat strategy
The BJP is gearing up for a fight in UP. Modi has already started working on a strategy for the State much before he was elevated to the post of chairman of campaign committee. That is why his aide Shah has been made incharge of UP. The two have prepared a plan on the lines of how they fight an election in Gujarat.
A strategy to fight on 350 seats is in place. Out of them, 250 are on the No 1 priority list. Of these, 80 seats are in UP, 40 in Bihar and 14 in Jharkhand. So the party will utilise a large chunk of its resources in UP and almost all senior party leaders are likely to campaign in the State.
Even the RSS will put all its efforts in UP for the party’s victory in the largest State.
cong worried
It appears that the Congress is worried about the impact Modi will have now that he has become the BJP’s chief election campaigner. Why else will the party decide all its moves and strategies according to what Modi does or has to sayIJ
Almost all Congress leaders visited Uttarakhand to take stock of the situation and meet the victims. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi did an aerial survey of the region. Soon afterwards, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde went to Dehra Dun. General secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Ambika Soni, party treasurer Motilal Vora and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also visited Dehra Dun. Even Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was in Dehra Dun. But when Modi decided to visit the region, a directive was issued — that there would be no VIP visits to the State. It must be pointed out that Modi is the only BJP leader who has visited Uttarakhand.
Many State Governments like BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Congress-ruled Maharashtra put up camps and were doing relief work, but when Modi stayed for two days and reports poured in that he had come to the aid of 15,000 Gujarati tourists stranded in the area, the Government issued directions once again that without its permission no one will be allowed to carry out relief work.
Interestingly, it was the Congress Ministers and party spokespersons who reacted most to the news about Modi’s rescue and relief operations.
economic lockdown
Central Government’s chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu, who is the chief economist at the World Bank, had sometime back said that there would be no economic decisions in the US till after the 2014 lok Sabha elections. Basu had said that one will have to wait till 2015 for economic reforms. At that time, the UPA-II Government had said that there was no truth in what Basu had said. So much so that Basu had to take back his statement.
Now, Basu is no longer the advisor but what he had said has been repeated by none other than vice-chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The statement by Ahluwalia was made to the US Foreign Secretary John Kerry.
last week, Kerry was in talks with Indian policymaker for four hours. During one round of talks, Kerry said that India must pursue its economic reforms so that business with the US can expand. Kerry was interrupted by Ahluwalia who said that till General elections, no big decision on economic reforms can be taken.
So, no economic decisions will be taken hampering the growth plans in the country.
all fired up
Supporters of two Congress leaders fired in the air during a clash outside the party’s office in Ranchi. The incident took place when Jharkhand Congress in-charge BK Hari Prasad was holding a meeting with State leaders. The reports say that Congress legislator Mannan Mallik has alleged that Rajendra Singh’s supporters attacked them and fired in the air. Singh is the Congress’ legislative leader in Jharkhand.
But the State Congress is trying to sweep the whole incident under the carpet. The State president Sukhdeo Bhagat has constituted an enquiry and AICC Secretary Geeta Shree Oraon has been given the responsibility to head the investigation who says that the matter will be settled with mutual talks.
The leaders who witnessed the incident are demanding strict action against the leaders. They opine that the leaders are spreading gun culture in the Congress. According to them, there is no scope of talks when criminal intent is involved.
Meanwhile, the two leaders involved want to fight the election from their father’s respective seats. Party leaders say that if no action is taken against the two right away, it will mean that the leadership is weak and such incidents will only increase.
raj Vs uddhav
Sarcastic comments on Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray that he is the most confused leader in politics have surfaced. It was pointed out that when JD(U) decided to withdraw and break its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP, Uddhav made many remarks against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. But within a week he changed his stance.
Uddhav said that it was BJP’s fault that the alliance broke. There are reports that Uddhav is confused, disappointed and angry due to Maharahstra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray meteoric rise and BJP’s soft stand towards him and that the party is giving more importance to Raj. So, to prove his point, Uddhav will continue his tirade against the BJP in the days to follow.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena leaders have said that the leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj is the best Prime Ministerial candidate. Though, Shiv Sena doesn’t have a problem with Modi’s name. However, this swing Modi or no Modi that Sena leaders have adopted has left the BJP rather confused. They are wondering the reason for this.
upbeat mode
There are rumours that while the Congress is all set to extend support to JD(U), the party has also supported DMK chief Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi in the Rajya Sabha elections. This goes to show that the party wants the UPA-II Government to be in power till next April-May. During this time, the party wants to take some important decisions.
One has to keep in mind that the combined strength of JD(U) and DMK is 38 in the lok Sabha. If they continue to support UPA-II, the Government will be able to prove its majority and remain at the helm. There will be no problem in getting some of its Bills like the Food Security Bill and land Acquisition Bill passed.
More than that, the Government will be able to manipulate the decision of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) which is probing the telecom scam. Though, JD(U)’s national president, Sharad Yadav has said that his party will continue to play the Opposition in Parliament even after receiving the support of the Congress in Bihar; the DMK, too, has not promised any unconditional support.
But Congress is sure that both the parties will support it when the need arises. A party insider said that the Congress’ political moves in Bihar and Tamil Nadu are in place albeit with limited reach. After all, it is not easy to garner support of 38 MPs on the basis of only four MlAs from Bihar and five MlAs from Tamil Nadu.
wooing muslims, nitish way
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP due to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Now that he has broken all ties with the party, he is trying to gain political mileage out of the move.
There are reports that Nitish will soon be announcing sops for the Muslim voters in his State, especially for the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (PMM) — pasmanda means those who have fallen behind. It refers to those Muslims belonging to the shudra and ati-shudra (Dalit) castes. It was adopted as an oppositional identity to that of the dominant Ashraf Muslims (forward castes) in 1998 by the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz, a group which mainly works in Bihar.
Sources say that Nitish is gearing up to give them a place in the Government. Ali Anwar, JD(U) MP who is a staunch supporter of the group, is paving the way for the induction of PMM in the Government. He has started a campaign with a slogan — pasmanda jagao, desh bachao.
Next month, Anwar is organising a conference on behalf of All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz and more than 5,000 people are expected to participate in the function. Nitish will be the chief guest at the function. Sources say that the Chief Minister is all set to make snide remarks against Modi and attack his agenda. It appears that Nitish has started to woo several Muslim organisations in his State. However, there are reports that lok Janshakti Party (lJP) president Ramvilas Paswan said that contrary to whatever Nitish does to promote his secular image to woo Muslims, the fact was he had profusely praised Modi at a function in Kutch a decade ago and asked the people to forget the riots.