The New Balance
Former Akali Dal leader turned Congressman Manpreet Badal may have followed his mentor Captain Amarinder Singh into the BJP, but is he as comfortable in the saffron fold? BJP watchers point to the fact that when the state in-charge, cabinet minister Gajendra Shekhawat visited Bathinda soon after (that is Manpreet’s stronghold), he was not invited by the local unit to meet Shekhawat. In fact the Bathinda BJP district president, Sarup Shingla had filed a complaint against Manpreet with the state vigilance bureau and is certainly not showing any signs to withdraw the said complaint post Manpreet joining the BJP. While Shekhawat has underplayed Manpreet’s absence during his visit, the former Punjab finance minister may find the equations within his new party a trifle hard to balance.
Heir & Now
By now Rahul Gandhi must be fed up with the phrase heir apparent considering the amount of wordplay this offers headline writers, given his on-again, off-again brand of leadership. First there was the play on Heir Apparent to Heir Not-Apparent; then there was the “Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow” headline. His rather long apprenticeship was referred to as an “heir-raising” event. Even now, when he has stayed the course of the entire Bharat Jodo Yatra and been at his consistent best, the word play continues. Recently, Vir Sanghvi observed in his column at the Print that while Rahul may have given up being Heir Apparent, but by the time he was through with his Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi had become “Hair Apparent”. The reference was of course to the fact that the clean shaven Rahul now sports a bushy beard! Oh dear.
Political storms ahead
Although nine states are set to go to the elections this year (10 if J&K is included), the focus is mainly on Karnataka, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana. Except for the last, expect a more or less straight fight between the BJP and the Congress (notwithstanding the JDS in Karnataka, which could end up being a spoiler or a kingmaker) in the other four. The Congress is hoping to win at least three of these—Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. This will give them a good score to take to the Lok Sabha polls next year, but as precedents have proved, these in no way indicate which way the voter will vote in the general elections. Moreover, on 1 January 2024, the Home Minister will announce the completion of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple and the budget that follows is expected to have more sops for the poor and middle class to woo their vote. The Congress, however, is claiming that the BJP will get some blowback from the allegations against Gautam Adani, but the Prime Minister and his team have a year for damage control. Will the Hindenburg report impact the Modi government the same way as the Anna Hazare movement did UPA? Early days yet. All of which makes the next two years very interesting indeed.