Rivals Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have stepped up their attacks on the Congress and are all out to highlight the failures of the UPA-II Government. It appears that these two parties have made this their poll agenda ahead of the 2014 lok Sabha elections. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati are busy chalking out the blueprint for the elections and finalising their respective candidates. What is interesting is that they are largely dependent on their respective caste votes but are also trying to woo the upper caste and holding a host of Brahmin sammellans. They have even distributed a fair share of tickets to the Brahmins.
The two leaders recently announced that each of them would play a key role in the formation of an alternative Government at the Centre in a post-poll scenario. As such, they are not only consolidating their mass base but are also trying to make a dent in the upper caste votebank. Although both have dismissed any impact of the NaMo factor, they are issuing statements daily that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will hardly effect the coming polls. Of course, the BJP was the first to question: “If the SP and BSP feel that Modi will not be able to sway the voters in the Hindi heartland, why are they getting so jittery when Modi has not even visited UPIJ Only his lieutenant Amit Shah has got down to business and is holding meetings of different divisions made by the party organisation”.
Going by the saffron logic, the statement has truth in it. Even the Congress leadership has, in its balancing act, posted its Gujarati loyalist Madhusudan Mistry to counter Amit Shah’s strategy. Now, the question doing the rounds is whether the SP or BSP will finally reach the top after the General Elections. Mulayam and Mayawati have made it very clear that they are in the race for Prime Ministership. Yadav has also floated the idea of forming the Third Front to realise his dream.
The Congress has decided to project party vice-president Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate. The BJP, which recently elevated Modi as its election campaign committee chief, has sent signals that he will replace former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the party’s poll mascot in the 2014 elections as also the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate. This message had ruffled many feathers in the saffron camp. The first leader was senior leader lK Advani. However, the RSS stepped in to pacify the rising tempers and apparently all went well. While the guessing game is on between the SP and BSP as to which of them will finally enter the match to form a non-Congress, non-BJP Government, much will depend on the number of seats which each party gets.
The State which has always been the hotbed of politics and made several people sit on the Prime Minister’s chair in the past will once again witness the inevitable contest in the post-poll scenario.
Ticket woes
The sitting lok Sabha members in almost all the political parties are a worried lot. They are once again eyeing a ticket for the 2014 lok Sabha elections. Of course, those who have managed to get the ticket are content. But they are still keeping their fingers crossed their lest respective party leaders change their mind at the last minute.
Sultanpur’s Congress MP Sanjay Singh is in a dilemma. His concern is not totally unfounded as BJP’s firebrand MP Varun Gandhi has announced that he may change his seat from Pilibhit to Sultanpur. The Congress is yet to take a decision in this regard since Singh may not like to confront Varun and is, therefore, looking for a safer seat. No wonder, Singh was recently seen hobnobbing with the SP.
It is reported that he invited Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in this connection. Their meeting obviously sparked off speculations that in case the Congress had a change of heart, Singh will have the option of bargaining with the SP.
There were rumours that Singh bargained for a position for his wife, former MlA Amita Modi. In either case, it is entirely up to the Samajwadi Party whether or not to oblige.
Flying trips
The ruling Samajwadi Party is said to be rather liberal when it comes to allowing its Ministers to go on foreign trips. No wonder nearly eight of its Ministers and some senior bureaucrats have already had the privilege of going abroad. Who said the Akhilesh Yadav believed in austerity measuresIJ At least not so during his Government’s15-month-old tenure.
So, those who are queuing up and planning a trip to foreign lands need not despair, as long as the Government continues to be in an obliging mood. Quite another matter that the Chief Minister was unable to give a lecture at the Harvard University because urban development Mohammad Azam Khan was referred by an immigration officer upon his arrival for “secondary inspection.”