Fadnavis flying to Patna, Delhi for talks

• BJP not to buckle under Nitish Pressure
• Wants JD(U) to contest 102 seats only

Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

New Delhi, Sep 26

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and incharge of BJP’s Bihar unit Devendra Fadnavis will be flying to Patna and later Delhi to finalise party’s strategy for October 28 Assembly polls.

If sources close to Fadnavis are to be believed, the party is unlikely to buckle under Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s pressure in seat-sharing arrangements. Fadnavis will come to Delhi in the first week of October after visiting Patna. 

Fadnavis had gauged the mood on tie up when he visited Patna immediately after his surprise appointment to over-see Bihar Assembly polls by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Obviously, Modi was unhappy with the way the BJP had to surrender five extra Lok Sabha seats to Janata Dal (U) during the 2019 polls. The BJP contested 17 seats instead of 22 sacrificing five sitting MPs and gave 17 seats to JD(U). The party high command accepted this humiliation at the hands of Nitish Kumar despite the massive Modi wave.

But now there is no such compulsion. Secondly, Fadnavis is reported to have conveyed to the party high command about the dwindling graph of Nitish Kumar due to mishandling of Coronavirus and migrant labours and floods issues. 

Internal field surveys ordered at the instance of Fadnavis showed that PM Modi has a lead of 12% over Nitish Kumar in popularity and its time Nitish made to pay the price. Nitish wants to contest 118 seats but the BJP is unwilling to concede more than 100-102 out of 243 seats.

The BJP also wants to contest 102 seats leaving 39 for LJP, HAM and other new entrants.

Insiders say that open revolt against Nitish Kumar by Chirag Paswan, president of the Bihar LJP is being engineered by the BJP. The BJP brought HAM party’s Jitan Ram Manjhi into the NDA fold and instigated RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha to leave the RJD-Congress. Perhaps, Modi has not forgotten the day when Nitish Kumar walked out of the NDA in 2013 after he was declared BJP’s prime ministerial candidate. It is a different matter that Nitish Kumar defected to NDA in 2017 to remain in power. Its pay back time for Nitish Kumar.

Govt. Determined to pass Triple Talaq Bill

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Govt. Determined to pass Triple Talaq Bill

Trying to muster numbers in Rajya Sabha

JD (U) to Oppose it tooth & Nail

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, July 12

Irrespective of the cautioning by some saner voices in the NDA that the contentious Triple Talaq bill should not be pushed in the current Monsoon session of Parliament, the hawks in the ruling BJP are determined to push for the same.

Informed sources say that the BJP leadership is determined to ensure the passage of the fresh Triple Talaq Bill in this session itself. The debates on the Motion of Thanks on President's Address, Union Budget and a couple of ministries will be over by the middle of next week. At least 10 bills have been passed by the Lok Sabha so far and remaining agenda will also be achieved.

Sources in the government say that there is no move to repeal the Article 370 or revoke 35A is on the cards in the near future. But the government won't compromise on its commitment to pass the Triple Talaq merely because its major ally, Janata Dal (U) is opposed to it.

A senior Cabinet minister who is dealing with the issue in the government told Lokmat on the condition of not being quoted, “Its our commitment to pass the Triple Talaq Bill and we are duty bound after the massive mandate.”

No doubt, the BJP has enough numbers in the Lok Sabha for the smooth passage of the bill on its own without the support of its allies. The BJP has 303 MPs in the Lok Sabha in a house of 542 and doesn't need JD(U)'s 17 MPs. However, it will face huge problem in the Rajya Sabha where it has 76 MPs in the House of 244. It has the support of Shiv Sena (3), Akalis (3), Nominated (3) and Independents (4) taking the tally to 89. The JD (U) which has only six MPs in the Rajya Sabha, has made it clear to the BJP leadership that it will not support the Triple Talaq Bill in Parliament, rather it will vote against it if it was brought before the House. Ever since the BJP-JD(U) differences came to the surface over induction of into the Union Cabinet, the situation is worrisome. The JD(U) leadership refused to accept the proposal of sending its token representative in the Modi government and wanted proportionate representation.

Even the other BJP ally, the AIADMK which has 13 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, has signaled that it may stay away rather than support the bill.

Ends 

BJP struggling with Sena, JD (U) to identify LS seats

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

exclusive 

BJP struggling with Sena, JD (U) to identify LS seats

BJP contesting 22 in Maharashtra and 17 in Bihar

Parliamentary board to meet on March15-16

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 13

The BJP high command is working on a war footing basis with Shiv Sena and Janata Dal (U) in Maharashtra and Bihar respectively to identify Lok Sabha seats electoral partners will contest.

The BJP has agreed to contest 22 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra leaving 26 for Shiv Sena. But these 22 seats have not been identified as yet and internal discussions have not been completed as yet. Similarly, in Bihar the BJP will forego its claim on five Lok Sabha seat to keep Nitish Kumar in good humour. The BJP has 22 sitting MPs from Bihar in Lok Sabha. The JD (U) will also contest 17 seats while Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP will contest remaining 6 seats. The seats in Bihar have not been identified so far.

The BJP high command’s discussions with JD (U) have almost been completed and a formal announcement is possible anytime tomorrow. But Maharashtra is still causing problems despite BJP conceding extra space to Shiv Sena. The BJP is also up set that despite conceding more seats, the Sena’s official organ continues to criticize the Modi government policies.

Highly placed sources in the BJP say that BJP’s Parliamentary Board will meet on March 15-16 to announce party candidates for 91 seats in Phase-I and 97 seats in Phase-II. Maharashtra’s 7 seats are in phase-I and 10 in Phase-II. The BJP wants to finalise seat allocation with Sena before its board meets. Similarly, Bihar’s 9 seats are in Phase-I and phase-II.

Ends 

Bade Bhai Munna Bhai

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Narendra Modi revelled for years as the self-proclaimed architect of the "miracle state" of Gujarat, till he woke up to his larger calling as the Prime Minister of India. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of course cuts a lower profile than Modi, though he is better qualified and armed with a consistent track record of imaginative governance. After the Modi tsunami in 2014, there was not much to compare the two men on electoral scoreboard, the BJP-led NDA having cornered 35 of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats, Nitish's JD(U) being left with only two.

Federally Yours

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Indian politicians are obsessed with thinking of politics as a mere game of numbers- not one of parties gaining support, or losing it, due to the correctness, or otherwise, and how they're seen to be influencing people cutting across regional or caste lines. An alliance at the top, politicians love to believe, is spontaneously translated to addition of numbers at the bottom. It is not smart thinking as, with the spread of literacy, awareness and satellite television, voters and even lower-rung party workers are getting increasingly prone to draw their own road-maps. Instead, our politicians still talk of merger and alliance as India has remained fixed in the 70's, when the concept of a "front" or large alliance forged at the top and going down to the bottom gained currency for the first time.