Omar’s Z Plus Team
An interesting addition to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s campaign in the Valley is the addition of his sons who help him with backroom management. Both Zahir and Zamir are practicing lawyers and part of the National Conference’s legal team, which is now playing a crucial role in dealing with the Election Commission since almost every day a new notice is issued cancelling the NC’s rallies over “security” or some other concerns. Although other parties, like the People’s Conference also get served the notices, the ratio is usually 3:1 against the NC. Both were also part of the NC’s team that challenged the abrogation of Article 370 in the valley in the Supreme Court. The boys have ruled out joining politics, stating that they are there just to help their father, which includes doubling up as cameramen when the photographer doesn’t show up, and running other errands. On a lighter note, when asked why both the boys’ names started with a Z, Omar laughed and said since the surname is Abdullah, it covers the entire alphabet from A to Z. However, there is a lot of demand for selfies by the locals once they are spotted. It all adds to the campaign colour.
The Toffee Charge
Campaigning in the Valley has its own unique style. Instead of showering the candidates with petals the residents shower them with toffee, and at times even walnuts and almonds. So next time one is covering a campaign there, perhaps carry a goodie bag. Though all the love comes with a price since one enterprising toffee managed to make a crack in Omar Abdullah’s SUV windshield. But all in all, the toffee charge makes a welcome addition to the Valley’s rhetoric that so far saw mostly lathi-charges.
Left vs Right Wing
Milind Deora, who has recently joined Shiv Shena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, was asked if he had left the Congress because of Rahul Gandhi’s left-wing dominated ideology. His reply was that he didn’t buy such labels and added, a bird needs both wings to fly. But he did point out that the reason his dad joined the Congress was Indira Gandhi and there was nothing left-wing about his father, for instance, he didn’t believe in bank nationalisation. The idea, as Milind added, is to find common ground and make it work. He is probably right because in this age of ever changing ideological narratives, we are rapidly moving towards the age of the professional politician where individuals are gravitating towards parties and platforms that work (for them).
The Congress Campaign
After Sam Pitroda’s controversial comments his ouster from the Congress was imminent. The go ahead came from Sonia Gandhi herself as the party did not know how to handle Pitroda, given his special status. However Sonia made it clear to Jairam Ramesh that if Pitroda did not resign then he would have to be expelled and accordingly two letters were prepared, one accepting the resignation while the other was the expulsion note. As it turned out, the Congress got to use the former. With the party’s campaign focusing on issues raised in the manifesto, this kind of controversy could easily have been avoided, ditto for former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh’s comments calling the terrorist attacks in Poonch Rajouri as stunt-baazi. What is also perplexing Congress workers is the scheduling of Rahul Gandhi’s tours. What made the party’s star campaigner take off for Kendrapada in Odisha end April, a constituency which is scheduled to vote in the last phase and a seat where it could be argued that the Congress doesn’t have a very strong chance of winning, instead of focusing on other more crucial seats.