The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced the name of the senior Assam cabinet minister and its go-to man in the northeast, Himanta Biswa Sarma, as one of the 70 party candidates for the upcoming three-phase assembly polls starting March 27 even though the latter had formally expressed his unwillingness to contest in a letter to the state unit president, Ranjeet Kumar Dass. Although the move was along expected lines, given Sarma’s prowess when it comes to winning elections since his days in the Congress, his nomination has once again revived debate over the chief minister’s post.

The incumbent chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, was named for the top post during a pre-poll rally by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, in 2016. However, the party has not made any such announcement till now, leaving state unit leaders and workers guessing because they are the ones who have to answer to the charges levelled by rivals, especially the Congress, of the state being run by a ‘double-engine’, alluding to Sonowal and Sarma. The last five years have seen Sarma do everything possible to impress the party leadership, and party insiders say that it was time that the leadership took a call on the issue in the greater interest of the party in Assam. Clearly, the BJP leadership has to think beyond winning the 2021 polls in the northeastern state.

Costly game

At a time when rising petrol and diesel prices have stumped the BJP in its campaign for state assemblies, party leaders in Kerala have been vying with one another with offers to sell the commodity cheap if they come to power in the state. While the state president, K Surendran, had once reportedly claimed that petrol and diesel could be sold for less than Rs 50 a litre by slashing state taxes, the veteran party leader, Kummanam Rajasekharan, has now promised to sell the fuel for Rs 60 a litre.

The party would not explain the disparity between the two offers but many are of the opinion that the BJP can even afford to promise fuel for free since the party is not coming to power any time soon in the southern state.

Barely helpful

No Indian cricket fan would have forgotten how the skipper, Sourav Ganguly, took off his shirt after Team India defeated England in the famous NatWest Series finals at the Lord’s in 2002. The Congress member of legislative assembly, BK Sangamesh, replicated that action
in the Karnataka assembly on Thursday, although for a different reason.

Sangamesh took off his shirt alleging that he and his family were booked in false cases by the BJP and its affiliates. Although the state party president and lawmaker, DK Shivakumar, kept urging him to put his shirt back on, Sangamesh continued with this unique form of protest and, in the process, got suspended from attending parliamentary proceedings for seven days. It was, after all, not that easy to pull it off in the House, as against Dada’s epic celebration at the Lord’s.

Still strong

In spite of the near total domination of the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah duo over the government and the party, there are some leaders who are silently rebelling. The former Rajasthan chief minister, Vasundhara Raje, continues to be irrepressible, despite the best efforts of the current regime. Defying all attempts by the leadership to sideline her, the “Maharani”, as she is popularly called owing to her royal connection, is back in action. She has started to pitch herself as the face of the party in Rajasthan although polls are scheduled in 2023. Leaders close to her think that she is not taking any chances, apprehending she could be edged out as the chief-ministerial face by election time. Raje is well entrenched in the state’s politics and feels the need to be assertive to scare the leadership. The Central leadership seems to be upset with Raje’s current activities but finds it difficult to take action against her.

The Modi-Shah regime has systematically tried to replace the old order with an order of its own. It has picked relatively younger leaders and promoted them to build a loyal team. However, some like Raje still dare to resist.

Out of control

That the control of the Congress high command over the party has weakened because of the leadership crisis created by Rahul Gandhi’s unexpected exit after the debacle in the parliamentary election of 2019 is now manifest in different forms. Although Rahul is still being treated as the supreme leader in the party, Sonia Gandhi’s presence at the helm more like a ceremonial head than a functional one is affecting the organization the most. While Sachin Pilot organized farmers rallies in Rajasthan without overt support from the pradesh committee, the same oddity is now being repeated in Madhya Pradesh.

The former chief minister, Digvijaya Singh, has launched his own kisan mahapanchayats in the state, without involving the state unit. When asked about his solo run, he reportedly said he had consulted Kamal Nath. But he was obviously keen to make his distinct mark on the programme as he asserted this was strictly apolitical. Several meetings have allegedly taken place over the past three to four days without any party flags or political discussion. Singh explains the problems in the farm laws and pleads with the farmers of the state to strengthen the ongoing movement. This was unthinkable earlier, when the high command controlled every activity, from state to district levels. Although Singh and Nath have better relations than what Ashok Gehlot and Pilot have — an explicitly bitter enmity — that the kisan mahapanchayats are not being led by the state chief has raised eyebrows in the party.

Footnote

The Rajya Sabha member, Subramanian Swamy, is going on the offensive and the leadership appears to be afraid of acting against him. Peeved over the BJP embracing the 88-year-old former ‘metro man’, E Sreedharan, as the CM candidate for Kerala, Swamy has used this to raise questions over seniors like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi being denied tickets to contest elections. Many others in the party also feel that Sreedharan’s case could give courage to other retired leaders to speak out.