Amit Shah takes the command
After drubbing in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, it is clearly emerging that Union Home & Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has taken the command of Assembly elections in five states going to polls this year end. Amit Shah has deployed some of his loyalist ministers as state Prabharis in addition to party incharges in these five states. The Prime Minister was extremely upset over the defeat in Himachal where it had bright prospects of retaining power. But after the Karnataka loss, days of niceties are gone and Amit Shah is ruthlessly dealing with errant party leaders in these states. The open-arm policy of admitting leaders from other parties and humouring estranged allies is part of a mega plan. Amit Shah is extremely confident of winning Rajasthan after a truce of sorts has been worked and working very hard in Madhya Pradesh where all surveys said that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is on a weak wicket. But Amit Shah decided that changing the horse at this late stage will not work and gave full support. Chouhan on this part has opened state's coffers by doling one freebie after the other to woo the voters and thrown to the winds Prime Minister Modi's sermons to states not to fall prey to freebies to win polls. Amit Shah is still struggling to find a face to take on Bhupesh Baghel as central agencies alone cannot be of big help. Barring Telangana, the BJP is confident of winning at least Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram.
Desperate search for allies
It is a bizarre situation never witnessed before in the political arena where ruling and principal Opposition parties tried hard to rope in as many new allies as possible before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. If the BJP claims to have roped in 38 allies into the NDA, the Congress also claimed a huge figure of 26 parties in Bengaluru. There is considerable surprise over BJP's desperation to get more and more allies irrespective of the fact that 24 of them didn't have a single MP in the Lok Sabha and seven have just one Lok Sabha seat. For almost four years, the BJP hardly held a meeting of the NDA even once after Modi won in May 2019. One of the reasons attributed to the allegations is that the BJP leadership in states worked meticulously to weaken its allies to ensure a majority on its own. Be it Bihar or Maharashtra or Punjab, the BJP kept experimenting with this formula to strengthen its own vote bank. But all of a sudden it changed strategy and opened its doors for all and sundry to jack up NDA's Lok Sabha tally to 400 seats in 2024. Sensing the BJP's move, the Congress leadership is also walking an extra mile to placate more and more allies even at its own cost. If the Congress swallowed the bitter AAP pill by conceding its demand on the Delhi Services Ordinance, it was also doing everything possible to placate allies. The Gandhis have buried their big ego and conceded space to allies to take its own Lok Sabha tally to three digits. So much so that Mallikarjune Kharge said that the Congress for the post of Prime Ministerial. The Congress' 26 parties alliance is better spread in reach in Lok Sabha as 18 parties had at least one or more Lok Sabha Mps. One of the reasons for BJP walking an extra mile is that it has 160 vulnerable Lok Sabha seats. Even out of 224 Lok Sabha seats where it got more than 50% votes and remaining 79 with good margin, it is worried to retain this number in 2024.
Uneasiness growing in BJP-RSS
The open-door policy adopted by the BJP leadership allowing all kinds of parties and leaders in the NDA has created huge resentment in the cadre. The RSS which worked hard for decades in helping the BJP is somewhat upset as old loyalists are gradually being eased out and cooling their heels while defectors are given plum posts. The BJP has become a washing machine where all scamsters become clean and given berths in states and even at the Centre. There is a feeling that the BJP's image of a party with a difference has taken a hit and it's only because of PM Modi's clean image that the electorate continue to vote for it. There is growing unrest resulted in the loss of Assembly polls in Karnataka and elsewhere. Even in Maharashtra, the BJP realised that breaking the Shiv Sena alone may not give dividends electorally and decided to rope in Ajit Pawar as well. But the challenge will be to win 152 Assembly seats, the BJP has set for 2024 polls when it has two strong allies demanding half the seats. The BJP high command is now walking an extra mile to keep old loyalists in good humour. During the July 2021 Cabinet reshuffle, a dozen odd loyalists were shown the door without any future in store. Most of these leaders were far below the threshold age limit of 75 years.
Why Rahul opted for Dixit's House
There is a sea-change in Rahul Gandhi's thinking and style as he wants to paint more and more as a commoner. This change became more visible after his Bharat-Jodo-Yatra. He vacated the official bungalow before the deadline after being disqualified. For the initial period, he shifted to 10 Janpath residence of Sonia Gandhi. But kept looking for a house on rent in a congested location in Nizamuddin. He sent two signals; one that he doesn't have a house of his own in Delhi and opted for a not so lavish house either in the prime locality of Jor Bagh or Golf Links. Very soon, he may be found undertaking morning walks in the Humayun Tomb park and mingling with the people.
