BJP worried as Vulnerable LS seats go up
The hype created by the BJP leaders in public notwithstanding, findings of internal surveys have made the leadership slightly worried. A brain-storming session held recently at the party headquarters, the BJP raised the number of vulnerable Lok Sabha seats from 144 to 170 plus. It was only after this marathon exercise that top BJP leadership including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief J P Nadda and others started touring states after states where the party found chinks in its armory. The number of vulnerable seats went up to 170 plus as Opposition parties are moving in the direction of pitching a common candidate in at least 350 Lok Sabha constituencies against the BJP. Prime Minister Modi’s growing charisma, BJP's organised war machinery, massive pumping of funds and diatribes has made even the regional parties worried. These parties are working hard to reach a tacit understanding to field a common candidate against BJP in majority of states. The BJP high command has to rejig its strategy in many states including Maharashtra, Bihar, Rajasthan apart from southern states to retain its present strength in Lok Sabha. The Prime Minister has already directed the ministries and BJP-ruled states to prepare a detailed list of beneficiaries of various Central government fully-funded schemes so that BJP workers could go house-to-house in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls in May 2024.
Breather for Shivraj Singh Chouhan!
Contrary to reports, there are signs that Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan may survive. The party high command was in the process of bringing a new face to avoid anti-incumbency as Chouhan is serving his 4th term as CM. Even in the 2018 Assembly polls, the BJP had lost the state to the Congress. But it regained the state after Jyotiraditya Scindia walked over to the BJP along with 22 MLAs. The high command explored the possibility of installing a new face and search began too. However, it developed cold feet as Chouhan is an OBC and finding another leader from backward classes is becoming difficult. Therefore, it is contemplating to make Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar as Madhya Pradesh BJP president in place of Vishnu Sharma who is a Tomar protegee. Tomar is a seasoned party man and commands considerable respect in the state. He has a considerable clout. The change of guards may take place only after the Assembly polls in the event of BJP emerging victorious.
Congress’ big worry too
If the BJP leadership is fixing nuts & bolts in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress is also facing its Waterloo in many states. The BJP’s focus is how to win Muslim votes while retaining its Hindu vote bank. Similarly, the Congress is wanting to gain a pie among the Hindus while retaining its Muslim vote banks. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) may have succeeded in earning praises but he has a long way to go. The Congress Party’s Hindu vote bank which late Indira Gandhi retained, has been withered away by her successors. The disaster followed when it lost its Muslim vote bank as well in states after states beginning with UP. Earlier, Indian Muslim League was confined to Kerala and AIMIM in Hyderabad. Lately, many parties have come into being promising to take care of their interests. In Assam, Badaruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF sprang up in a big way and Assaduddin Owaisi expanded his wings outside Hyderabad and gained ground in Maharashtra, Bihar and other states. As if this was not enough, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has sprung up in Karnataka to protect Muslims’ interest. Therefore, Rahul Gandhi’s purpose of his BJY is to bring back the majority community to the party's fold and hope to bring Muslims into its fold. His numerous visits to temples during the course of yatra has even earned laurels from a Ram Temple trustee and Mahants. Rahul’s re-birth and emergence of a “Tapasvi" and claims that he has read Ramayan, Mahabharat, Vedas & Puranas, are aimed at sending a message that he is a devout Hindu. He struck a spiritual note in Kurukshetra gladdening the hearts of even RSS leadership.
Falling like ninepins
Rahul Gandhi's team faced great difficulty in selecting 120 ‘Yatris’ capable of walking 3000 km with Rahul Gandhi for 150 days from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. They were selected not only because of their unflinching loyalty to the party but also their physical stamina to take the arduous journey. In this test of survival of the fittest, a few of them failed too. But many senior Congress leaders had to cut a sorry figure as they couldn’t keep pace with Rahul Gandhi and even lost their balance. Nitin Raut of Maharashtra, Haryana’s PCC chief Uday Bhan, and Kiran Chowdhary lost their balance and had to leave the Yatra midway. A large number of senior leaders including Ashok Gehlot, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Siddaramaiah, Kamal Nath, Jairam Ramesh, Bala Saheb Thorat and others could walk only briefly and had to beat a hasty retreat. But Rahul was extremely happy that the Rajasthan and Haryana leg of Yatra was very well organised.
