All guns blazing
When the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar, said that his friend-turned-foe and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, Lalu Prasad, could get him shot, it stunned everybody. Lalu reportedly asked if he indulged in such activities, asserting that he had only spoken about his arrival to ensure the immersion of the Kumar-led government. Then Lalu claimed that he had spoken to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, but Congress leaders denied it. Then he reportedly accused Kumar of not enquiring about his health when he was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. But Kumar had earlier told his aides that he keeps a regular track of the RJD chief’s recovery. Lalu also called All India Congress Committee Bihar in-charge, Bhakta Charan Das, ‘bhakchonhar’ (stupid), leading to Congress workers burning his effigy in Patna. Then Lalu vowed to topple the National Democratic Alliance government and to uproot the Bharatiya Janata Party. “Can’t you see that Lalu ji has come out all guns blazing? He is not going to spare anyone. Hide, surrender or rally behind him, else you will be shot. And yes there will be no dearth of fireworks this Diwali,” said a senior leader who has worked long stints with both Kumar and Lalu.
Latent grudges
Younger leaders of the Congress were numbed into silence while the veterans were angry with reports of Prashant Kishor joining the party at a prominent position. While the senior leaders privately criticized Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for the “immature handling” that led to rumours that Kishor will now revive the Congress, younger leaders suppressed their emotions out of loyalty. But as soon as indications of a fallout came, they erupted in joy, mocking the “consultant” who is available for hire.
What is surprising is that Rahul and Priyanka met him several times, oblivious to the reservations among the rank and file. One leader said, “We have spent 40 years in Congress but haven’t been given 40 minutes of conversation with Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi. We have details of every constituency of our state in our mind but only those who explain through computer data are given importance. Our loyalty to party is obviously less valuable than ideology-neutral Kishor’s dalliance with every party.” Another leader pointed to Kishor’s intimacy with the former Punjab CM, Amarinder Singh, whose rapport with Amit Shah is no secret. Congressmen hope their top leaders do not fall into the trap of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo by embracing Kishor again in the future.
Prashant Kishor File picture
Real threat
Many BJP leaders who got dropped from the Union ministry or had their hopes of becoming ministers dashed have been approached by the Aam Aadmi Party, the Trinamul Congress or both. The two parties have been trying to spread wings across the country and are looking to rope in potential leaders.
Internally, BJP strategists are happy that the efforts of the two parties will hurt their principal rival, the Congress. The latter has already accused the TMC of providing cover fire to the BJP in Goa, heading for polls. Some old-timers, however, feel this understanding is flawed. They fear that more than the TMC, the AAP poses a threat. It has been playing both the trump cards of the BJP — nationalism and Hindutva. A senior BJP leader, recently dropped from the cabinet, was amazed to receive a call from Arvind Kejriwal. But he soon realized the political project of the AAP chief.
Fodder for thought
The bypolls to the five seats in Assam on Saturday were not shorn of drama. While seeking votes for the ruling BJP and its ally, the United People’s Party Liberal, its star campaigner and CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma, equated the two parties to cows that will give 26 litres of milk a day instead of voting for the Opposition, which would not give any milk and, instead, have to be fed for five years. The Congress leader, Debabrata Saikia, responded by sending four kilogrammes of high-quality grass seeds each to the BJP state president, Bhabesh Kalita, and the UPPL chief, Pramod Boro. “I sent the grass seeds because of chief minister’s remarks during campaigning that BJP can give 26 litres of milk a day which the Congress and other parties can’t. We know cow gives milk but for that you need adequate and quality dana (fodder). As such I ordered high class grass seeds for the two parties so they can remain productive and our people can benefit,” Saikia said.
Deep fissure
The bypolls to two assembly seats in Bihar has, once again, revealed that all is not well between the ruling partners — the Janata Dal (United) and the BJP. The JD(U) is contesting both seats. The main opponent, the RJD, is all charged up with its national president, Lalu Prasad, campaigning for it, but the two ruling parties could not hold a single joint public rally to woo voters.
“Nitish is behaving as if he is not bothered about us. Our party leaders have also campaigned half-heartedly. We hope the results will be in our favour,” a BJP leader said. A former minister and senior leader of the JD(U) pointed out that the two parties committed a similar mistake in the 2020 assembly elections and were almost swept out of power. “Nitish and the then deputy chief minister and BJP leader, Sushil Kumar Modi, did not hold joint campaigns. Though it cost us dear, nobody seems to have learnt from it,” he said. The two parties do not see eye to eye on many serious issues like the caste census and the National Register of Citizens. Either a miracle or the hunger for power keeps them together.
Naveen Patnaik Facebook
Footnote
The Odisha CM, Naveen Patnaik, recently dropped the minister of state for home, Dibya Shankar Mishra, who is caught in the Kalahandi murder case controversy, from his Mayurbhanj tour. While the Opposition is demanding Mishra’s resignation, the situation turned even more embarrassing for the Biju Janata Dal with one of its MLAs and editor-turned-politician, Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, raising uncomfortable questions about the functioning of the government in an editorial.
