Cool Breeze: Congressisation of BJP

Congressisation of BJP

Is the BJP becoming more like Congress and vice versa? A very interesting subtext is being played out in both parties if you take a look at the posters on display. A BJP poster will usually have the Cabinet minister or state CM’s picture and along with it will be the mandatory Narendra Modi photograph. The PM is the essential part of any BJP poster or hoarding—as were the Gandhis not too long ago. In the time of UPA, even government advertisements carried a Sonia Gandhi photograph, while then BJP CMs such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje did not always carry a Vajpayee (when he was PM) photograph in their hoardings. Today take a look at the Congress story. Both Kamal Nath and Amarinder Singh are holding investors’ summits in their states. Their posters only show the CMs themselves, without any Gandhi family shadow looming over them. So then is the Congress going the BJP way, and vice versa?

Back To Rahul

Is the Congress heading back to Rahul Gandhi as its party chief? It certainly looks that way, more so after Sonia Gandhi cancelled her first campaign rally at Mahendragarh with no specific reason given for the cancellation. Instead, Rahul addressed the rally. The changeover could happen by the end of the year, though there will be the “face-saving” charade of an election (we all know how these work within the Congress). The one chance the Congress had of effecting a change of guard was lost post Rahul’s resignation when the party refused to elect anyone from outside the family. As for Priyanka Vadra, all indications are that she is on board with the idea of a return to Rahul.

Selling Credibility

Last week, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath hosted an investors’ summit at Indore. Being a former Union Minister for Commerce, he knew well how to woo industry, pitching the idea of a Credible Madhya Pradesh in an Incredible India. The subtext of his pitch was trust for he pitted his track record as a Commerce Minister, who had done business with the industry heads before and already had an equation with them. Of course, he was quick to add that the strength of MP was its people, all of them, and not just one individual. It’s easy to see which individual he was referring to.