By introducing Jyotiraditya Scindia as its poll campaign in charge of Madhya Pradesh, the Congress is beaming a very clear pan-Indian signal: the coming days in the party belong to the young. In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, by giving tickets to sons of Motilal Vora and Ajit Jogi, Rahul Gandhi has merely affirmed what he has said in public and within the party for a long time.
There is consternation among senior Congress leaders at this growing love for youngsters but there is also the stark realization that to counter Narendra Modi’s ever-growing threat looming large on the horizon, the time to take some hard and tough decisions has finally arrived.
Says Congress leader Mohan Prakash, ‘‘If 46 percent of the voters in India are young, then obviously the country has to be given in their hands.’’ Fair point.
Having arrived at that conclusion, the Congress has set about its task of winning Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, aware not just that these are the precursor for the larger battle ahead next year but also that Rahul Gandhi has high stakes in the four states. Hence, distribution of party tickets is being kept strictly under the hat.
The man handpicked to counter the Modi mania and head the unified command is Union Minister Jairam Ramesh. In a MP flat in New Delhi’s South Avenue lies the future of many Congress candidates, a fully equipped war room which has the names of participants and detailed dossiers on them.
‘‘These elections are very sensitive and there are challenges before the party but the way things are going, we will do well not only in the assembly elections but General Elections as well,’’ Jairam Ramesh told TSI.
According to Congress’s own assessment, the picture emerging from the four battle ground states is the following: BJP is strong in MP and Chhattisgarh, in Delhi the Aam Aadmi party (AAP) has made life a little easy for the Congress while in Rajasthan, it is a neck and neck race with the ruling chief minister Ashok Gehlot, facing a tough anti-incumbency.
In Madhya Pradesh’s 230 assembly seats, the BJP has 143 members. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan is introducing new faces, which the Congress sees as a threat emanating from the nomination of youthful Jyotiraditya Scindia as its campaign committee head. Congress leaders have been told to appear together at public meetings which sends out the message of unity.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar says that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has done so much development work that the BJP is bound to return for a third time – albeit with reduced seats.
The Congress is banking upon Jyotiraditya’s clean image as also of his close aides to see them through. But whether it will tide over rampant factionalism within the party, despite its outwardly united manifestations, remains to be seen. Political observers admit that the party does not have much to boast about, as compared to the BJP, which is going about publicizing its’ various developmental programmes like the mid-day meal scheme.
Like MP, in Chhattisgarh, chief minister Raman Singh looks more likely a winner than any of his Congress counterparts. The antics and blackmail tactics of former chief minister Ajit Jogi has embarrassed the Congress no end; in order to keep him in good humour, his wife and son have been given party tickets for the polls.
But if the Congress is divided into many camps, so is the BJP. The recent resignation of Karuna Vajpayee, niece of Atal Behari Vajpayee, accusing Raman Singh of playing favourites, reflects this trend within the saffron leadership.
In the 2008 assembly elections, the BJP had won 50 out of 88 assembly seats while the Congress got 38. But this time, the Congress is gambling with the tribal card. They have gone overboard to accommodate tribal youths as party candidates. Jogi told TSI: ‘‘The Raman Singh government is anti-tribal and that has led to the fueling of the Maoist and Naxalite movement in the recent years. Our effort is to break this asymmetry.’’
In Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi has instructed state leaders to put up a united front and narrow down differences. State leaders like Sachin Pilot, CP Joshi, Ghanshyam Tiwari and others have been told to camp in their areas and influence the outcomes so that it becomes ‘easy’ to select candidates for the Lok Sabha in 2014.
The Congress is aware that Rajasthan BJP strongwoman Vasundhraraje Scindia has an open hand in selecting candidates. On line is a strong anti-incumbency which confronts Gehlot; add to it the failings of the central government which the BJP propaganda machine is going to announce from rooftops, which may make the Congress effort to retain its 96 out of 200 assembly seats a tough proposition. Predicts BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad: ‘‘We are headed for more than 100 seats this time and are sure of forming the next government in the state.’’
In Delhi, the first election meeting held by the Congress where Rahul praised Sheila Dixit’s development record was noticeable for the lack of public enthusiasm and numbers. That has set alarm bells ringing within the party. The wily machinations of former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari replacing an unpopular Vijay Goel with a sober Harshvardhan, has reinforced the party’s position in Delhi giving them a fighting chance.
The unknown factor in Delhi is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is picking up issues normally raised by the BJP. That has raised hopes in the Congress. Says Delhi Congress president JP Agrawal: ‘‘The Sheila Dixit government’s track record will help us in the elections. The AAP votes which would have gone to the BJP is going to help us as well. The selection of tickets has been done transparently on the basis of recommendations made by different district committees of the Congress.’’
Off the record, Congress leaders admit that despite the Delhi government’s commendable record, on account of rising inflation, rampant corruption, water and power shortage and increasing tariffs, the chances of holding on to their 43 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly may turn out to be tougher than it looks. Under the circumstances, AAP remains the Congress’s best bet. BJP’s loss would be Congress’s gain.
