Fly on
the Wall
Modi fixing 2024 nuts & Bolts
Prime Minister Modi may have been addressing one rally after the
other in four out of five poll bound states to bring fortunes to the BJP. But
he has not lost sight of adding votes in his kitty for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls
as well. He has been traveling to non-poll bound states to woo tribal and other
sections. Political analysts are baffled that the Enforcement Directorate (ED)
has suddenly gone silent against the Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren
lately. This is despite the fact that Soren did not get any relief from courts
against several summons issued by the ED and it was expected that Soren may be
arrested anytime soon. But ED opted to stay quiet and no one has heard
about the case for weeks together. The BJP leadership is also not
attacking him as vociferously as it was doing in the past. His arch BJP rival
and former Chief Minister Raghubar Das has been shunted out to Odisha as
Governor. Is something cooking in Jharkhand? It seems the BJP is working
on a plan to strengthen states where it is not in power to add Lok Sabha seats
in its kitty. The "Operation Maharashtra" was also part of the same
strategy where the BJP was worried about repeating its Lok Sabha performance in
2024. The operation in Karnataka is also underway and part of the same strategy
where the BJP lost power to Congress. The BJP has now tied up with
the Janata Dal (S) leader H D Deve Gowda for the Lok Sabha polls to win all 28
Lok Sabha seats. It's a different matter that this led to the announcement
by former Union Minister and Lok Sabha member, DV Sadananda Gowda to
quit electoral politics. He belongs to the same Vokkaliga community to which HD
Deve Gowda belongs. Though Sadanand Gowda is far below the cut off age of 75
years but he opted to call it a day. Clearly, the BJP has decided to
bank on former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in the Lok Sabha polls to repeat
its 2019 performance when it won 25 seats. There are reports that a plan
to weaken the Congress government in the state will be operationalized after
the Assembly polls.
It's BJP vs BJP in Madhya Pradesh
If you think that the BJP leadership in Madhya Pradesh is
fighting with the Congress, you may be in for a surprise. The BJP's strategy to
field four prominent central leaders; Narendra Singh Tomar, Faggan Singh Kulaste,
Rakesh Singh and Prahlad Patel, is not paying rich dividends. The TV channels
may be focusing on squabbles between Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh. But a close
look will reveal that rival factions in the BJP are working at cross purposes
to defeat some of these prominent leaders. No doubt, PM Modi and Amit Shah have
been addressing a maximum number of rallies in Madhya Pradesh to retain the
state and doled out one “Revadi after the other” to woo voters. But there is
huge anti-incumbency against Shivraj Singh Chouhan. It is whispered in the BJP
that if the party wins the state, it will be Prahlad Patel who will don the cap
and not Chouhan. The surfacing of videos relating to Tomar's son is part of
BJP's internal squabbles as no Congress leader has courage to run a fake
video factory in the current era where the ruling party has arsenal like the
ED, CBI & Income-Tax. The BJP is in a state of shock as not one but three
videos have surfaced. It is no secret either that the Congress state leadership
is gunning to defeat all candidates of Jyotiraditya Scindia who was
instrumental in pulling down the Kamal Nath government. Some of the BJP leaders
are indirectly assisting the Congress in this mission. There are wheels
within wheels and the BJP's strategy to field central leaders in Assembly polls
seems to be falling apart.
Rahul's knee problem
Rahul Gandhi's first phase of Bharat Jodo Yatra paid rich
dividends personally and politically to him. The former Congress president was
desperate to launch the second phase of his Bharat Jodo Yatra. But the
announcement was delayed as he had knee-related issues while walking as
part of the Bharat Jodo Yatra last year from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. He was
admitted to the Kottakkal Arya Vaidya Sala on July 21 and discharged after a
week. Now the program for the second phase of yatra has been announced.
But there is a catch; he won't be walking on the roads too much as he is not
fully recovered and doctors have advised him to avoid walking on concrete roads
or otherwise. He has been getting treatment from other experts as well but to
no avail. Now it has been decided that he will use an open jeep, make-shift bus
or other forms of traveling rather than walking on foot for more than one hour
in a day. During the first phase of the Yatra he used to walk mostly on foot
which led to damage to the knee.
Mahua's Bad patch
The TMC leadership may have given a key party post to Lok Sabha
MP Mahua Moitra in her district. But her bad patch is far from over. There is
no doubt that Ms Moitra will lose her Lok Sabha membership as per the
recommendations of the Ethics Committee recommendation. Experts have opined
that sharing her official login with an outsider itself is sufficient to
initiate action. The other two aspects relating to gifts, renovation and
favours in terms of kind and cash is a matter of further investigation. But in
the process, Mahua Moitra also lost the membership of a prestigious club. She
had applied for its membership and was invited for an interaction so that she
could be given an out-of-turn opportunity. But luck didn't favour her.
