Political Games
Rahul Gandhi is taking a keen interest in the selection of the new Indian Youth Congress (IYC) chief and is sitting in on the interviews for the selection process. During the interview process, the candidates (under the age of 35) are asked questions about the Ram temple at Ayodhya, the caste census and other dominant issues of the day. But the Congress being the Congress, cannot do without a dash of political games. And so the current IYC leadership strategically placed 8-9 individuals who advocated for the current IYC national general secretary, Purnchandra Padhi, better known as Coco Padhi to be appointed as the next president. During the meetings with both Rahul Gandhi and K.C. Venugopal present, these individuals strongly endorsed Coco. Rahul remained silent throughout the process, but it was clear that he was displeased. Finally, he turned to K.C. Venugopal and remarked, “Venu, either this Coco person is incredibly popular, or he’s a dictator. What do you think?”According to a source who witnessed this exchange, K.C. Venugopal then glanced at B.N. Srinivas, the current IYC president, who had been silently pushing for Coco Padhi, and remarked, “Perhaps this push for Coco is more about making someone here happy.”Clearly, a message here for the rest of the Congress leadership as well.
Coalition blues
The Congress central leadership is keen to keep the spirit of the I.N.D.I.A bloc alive and wants to honour its coalition partners even in the coming state elections. This is all very well for the larger purpose of uniting to defeat the BJP, but what about the other task at hand—that of rebuilding the party at the state levels? For instance, in the coming Haryana polls, the state unit is confident of going it alone, yet Rahul Gandhi seems keen to accommodate the Aam Aadmi Party, which is still to consolidate its base in the neighbouring state. What Rahul hopes of course is for a quid pro quo in the Delhi elections. But in Haryana what will probably happen is that those Congress candidates who see their seats being given to the AAP quota will probably end up leaving the Congress and contesting from AAP. Moreover, the AAP is demanding as many as 9 seats, while the Congress would like to settle for half that number. Likewise in Maharashtra, the Uddhav faction of the Sena is hoping to see their leader back as the Chief Minister face of the alliance. However, local Congress leaders claim that theirs is a pan Maharashtra party and so the CM face should be from the Congress. For now, the alliance has wisely decided not to contest with a CM face, but to leave that decision for post polls, thereby avoiding one storm, for the time being.
Ally vs Ally
Ajit Pawar’s near no show at the Lok Sabha has not gone down well with his alliance partners who are now seeing him as a liability in the coming Assembly polls. If you recall his party won only one of the five seats it contested in the Lok Sabha. Unlike Eknath Shinde’s Sena, it seems as if this breakaway faction is yet to find its feet. In fact the real tug of war is between these two breakaway factions more than with the BJP. For instance, recently there was a sharp exchange between Eknath’s Sena and Pawar’s NCP over the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Scheme for women that was propagated by the Mahayuti alliance. However the NCP advertisements did not have Eknath Shinde’s face on them, despite him being the sitting CM. The NCP advertisements gave credit to Ajit Dada for sending the money. This has not gone down well with Eknath Shinde’s Sena, who have publicly voiced their dissatisfaction with the NCP. Question is whom will the BJP support? Watch this space.