PAWAR VS PAWAR BATTLE
The battle for Baramati is emerging as one of the most keenly watched elections this year. The sitting MP, Supriya Sule is being challenged by Sunetra Pawar, a member of the Pawar clan and her sister-in-law. Sunetra is Ajit Pawar’s wife, and more to the point, is a familiar face in the constituency as she used to help Supriya manage the constituency. In fact, both Ajit and Sunetra are familiar faces in Baramati, with Ajit Pawar having spearheaded several projects in the area. While Sharad Pawar still retains his brand value as the original karta-dharta (manager and points person) the new generation identifies more with Ajit Pawar. However that is not to say that Supriya will lose the family bastion because in rural areas there are still households with Saheb’s photograph in their homes and who recall how Sharad Pawar built this constituency from ground zero to what it is today. So, watch this space.
Low Voter Turnout
What does the low voter turnout in the first two phases
indicate? The BJP would have you believe it is a vote for status quo, for otherwise the voting percentage would be much more. The I.N.D.I.A bloc claims that this is a worrying trend for the BJP as its voters feel a certain complacency and so they are the ones who haven’t ventured out, hence the vote that made it to the ballot box, is in favour of the opposition. The psephologists also blame the heat wave and the fact that there are one too many three-day weekends, prompting families to go off on holidays instead of staying back to vote. Interestingly, it was in 2004 when the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP government walked into the India Shining trap and brought the election cycle forward by a few months so that it fell in the months of April and May, instead of August-September, as it was prior to 2004. Now, given the somewhat lacklustre election campaign, it does look as if the only wave in play is the heat wave.
Congress has a new Uncle
Have you noticed that late Congress spokespersons have started referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Uncle” in the TV debates? The enterprising Pawan Khera referred to the PM as a WhatsApp Uncle during his press conferences, while sundry spokesperson have begun referring to the PM as a sort of rambling “Uncle” when they talk about him. Even Priyanka Gandhi Vadra used this imagery in her campaign speech recently when she referred to Modi as a “gappebaaj Uncle” and further explained “the kind of Uncle that one meets at weddings who is fond of telling tall stories”. Her reference was to counter the PM’s comment about the Congress planning a wealth redistribution that would target mangalsutras and the
family gold. Well, wait for the PM’s counter to this one because if there is one person who knows the art of a verbal comeback, it is Narendra Modi.