Revamp
Congress plans overhaul
The Congress will go for an organisational overhaul after the Assembly election results are declared. In Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress has become defunct because of the internal rivalries of Digvijaya Singh, Kamalnath and Jyotiraditya Scindia, there is pressure on the high command to give charge of the state
Desperate times
Nitish’s help needed
It seems Ghulam Nabi Azad called up Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, requesting him to canvass for the SP-Congress alliance in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s non Yadav OBC constituencies, specifically in Kurmi dominated areas. Nitish Kumar is a Kurmi. If political analysts are to be believed, then non Yadav OBCs and EBC Hindu voters are consolidating in favour of the BJP, thus giving a major scare to the Congress and SP. Even the Muslims in this region are said to be going with Mayawati. Muslims in this region are mostly of Pasmandas, or OBC Muslims who identify with the Dalit and EBC communities who are basically BSP voters.
The race is on
Meera in race for President
Meera Kumar, the daughter of Jagjivan Ram, who was Speaker of the Lok Sabha during the government of Dr Manmohan Singh, is to be Narendra Modi government’s choice as the next President of India. Meera Kumar is a non Jatav Dalit. Jatavs are Mayawati’s voters, so Narendra Modi is eyeing the non Jatav Dalit voters. It seems the RSS wants someone from its ranks as President, but the Prime Minister wants someone from the outside. Meera Kumar’s is an ideal name because no one from either th NDA or the Opposition will dare question her selection because she is a Dalit. The Congress too cannot afford to oppose the daughter of Jagjivan Ram who was not allowed to become Prime Minister by the party just because he was a Dalit.
Since then the Congress has been trying to put a Dalit in high office to get back its Dalit votes in northern India. The RSS too cannot afford to alienate the Dalits. Making a Dalit either President or Vice President will help the RSS get rid of its upper caste tag. But the RSS wants a Dalit who believes in its ideology. In this context, the names of Sonkar Shastri and Narendra Jadav are doing the rounds. Shastri has written a book on Dalits and Jadhav a book on B.R. Ambedkar. Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already said that the next President should be elected with all party consensus and that JDU’s preference is Pranab Mukherjee.