END OF AN ERA
Now that the Prime Minister’s Office has shifted to Seva Sthali complex, there is a lot of throwback nostalgia for South Block where the PMO was earlier housed. As well as for North Block, which had the all-powerful Home Ministry. From the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel there has always been a North Block vs South rivalry between the Number One and Number Two in government. We saw that as recently as A.B. Vajpayee’s PMO when there was a turf war with the L.K. Advani’s Home Ministry across the road. Even when the PMO was not a powerful one as was the case during Dr Manmohan Singh’s time, it had to contend with a powerful rival from North Block, though in his case it wasn’t so much the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram as much as former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. However, it must be stated in this case that in Narendra Modi’s PMO this turf war is missing.
IS ALL WELL WITH SHASHI AND THE KERALA CONGRESS?
The appointment of Shashi Tharoor as the co-chairman of the Congress campaign committee is as much for the optics as it is for the ground reality. The fact that he is a co-chair with his rival Ramesh Chennithala will give the optics of the two working together. The fact that the party has decided not to project a CM face also adds to the bonhomie as each will be on his best behaviour in the run-up to the elections. The state will see a three-cornered fight between LDF, led by CM Pinarayi Vijayan, challenged by the UDF and the BJP-led NDA. Usually, the state used to flip-flop the incumbent every five years but in the last elections, the Congress could not capitalise on the anti-incumbency (infighting was one of the reasons) and the LDF was voted back to power. This time around the Congress leadership proactively tried to smooth ruffled feathers in the run-up to the polls to avoid a repeat of the earlier scenario. As a Congress leader quipped, we don’t want to see Congress go the way of Haryana where we threw away a win due to our own internal factionalism. Well, lesson learnt.
THE TAMIL TANGLE
The Congress is still weighing its options in Tamil Nadu between its old ally the DMK and the new kid on the block, actor-turned-politician Vijay. Although it is early days yet, opinion polls indicate that despite an anti-incumbency the current CM, M.K. Stalin has the lead over the others. There is also the fear that though Vijay is topping the popularity charts and getting the crowds, he could meet the same fate as Prashant Kishor (PK) in Bihar. So, would the Congress be wise to take the risk? Or should it go with its old ally even though that would mean more of the same, as the DMK has made it clear that it would not be offering the Congress a seat in the council of ministers. Well, time is running out, with the elections just six weeks away. The Election Commission is expected to announce the dates next week.
