The Battle For Chandigarh
While the I.N.D.I.A bloc seems to be working well on ground in Chandigarh, it is the internal differences within the Congress that are creating hurdles for the alliance’s candidate Manish Tewari. It is ironic that while Tewari has been able to garner support from the Aam Admi Party, he is still to get the visible support of veteran Congress leader, Pawan Bansal, who had contested the 2019 elections (unsuccessfully) from Chandigarh and had put in a bid for a re-nomination these elections as well. However, the party decided in favour of Manish Tewari, a Congress leader with a legacy connect with Chandigarh. While Manish went across and met Bansal post his candidature being announced to seek his blessings, Bansal is yet to officially come out and campaign for him. Not just that, party sources claim that Bansal is behind some of the defections from the Congress camp just to mar the optics of Tewari’s candidature. Well that’s what they call, politics within politics.
Numbers to Watch Out For
Now that the polling is approaching its last and final phase, the speculation on the numbers has already begun, with Prashant Kishor predicting that the BJP will better its current score of 303, seats while Yogendra Yadav is claiming that the BJP won’t cross 270. Last week I interviewed two articulate and senior political leaders, one from the Congress and the other from the BJP. While Union Cabinet Minister Hardeep Puri claimed that the BJP would cross its current tally and get 300 plus, Shashi Tharoor was equally confident that the BJP was not coming back to power. After the war of narratives, comes the war of numbers.
Giveaway Signs
There is one easy way to spot which party a news commentator, analyst or a TV talking head is batting for. The pro Opposition voices will always refer to the alliance as I.N.D.I.A bloc, while those pro BJP will call it I.N.D.I Alliance, taking a cue from the Prime Minister himself. Then again, you have the opposition leaders referring to the BJP as the BJ Party, though thankfully this one hasn’t made it to the TV talking heads…as yet!
Social Media One Liner
While speaking to NewsX, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah referred to Prime Minister Modi’s comments about the Adani-Ambani duo sending cash donations to the Congress in tempos, and asked, “Why did the PM throw Adani and Ambani under the bus?” On hearing this, someone posted a smart response on X (twitter) that, “You mean thrown under the tempo!!” It’s good to see some poll humour in election time.