by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Mohit Dubey,
Lucknow : On her first public outing after making the political debut as Congress General Secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday may have succeeded in drawing enough eye balls in the roadshow here but the road ahead may be arduous and bumpy.
After seeing the response of the moribund party workers during the 17-km-long event, political observers say it would take much more than a mere show on streets to revive the Congress fortunes in 44 Lok Sabha seats of eastern Uttar Pradesh which Priyanka Gandhi will oversee.
While a team of party veterans and young leaders is working overtime to brief Priyanka Gandhi on what lies ahead, she has the task cut out that is daunting, keeping in mind the organisational structure which is in shambles and the beaten morale of the grassroot workers.
The party has been out of power in Uttar Pradesh for more than three decades. As the Modi juggernaut rolled in 2014, its woes only worsened.
A weak organisation seems to be her biggest challenge. And so while the district units of Congress remain on paper, their existence and efficiency beyond that stands in serious doubt. Barring the big names in the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) that jostled to find a place next to the Gandhis on the flower-decked bus during the roadshow, the party has a huge paucity of good faces at district level.
“There are no ‘karyakartas’ (workers)… only netas (leaders) at the state level,” rues a party activist at the Mall Avenue office of the Congress in Lucknow.
Leaders like former UPCC chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the one-day-Chief Minister Jagdambika Pal have migrated to greener or rather saffron pastures — the former is the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Minister while Pal is a Lok Sabha member of the BJP.
Forget, other parts of the state, the party is having chinks in the armour even in pocket boroughs like Amethi and Rae Bareli, where old loyalists like legislators Rakesh Prakash Singh and MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh have bid adieu to the party, jolting its prospects even in party strongholds, hitherto considered invincible.
Eastern UP, a task assigned to Priyanka Gandhi by her brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi, is the toughest region to win over, even the most overzealous party men admit.
There are 44 seats in all if the eastern UP (Poorvanchal) and Avadh region in which Lucknow and Amethi fall under are taken together. And it is from here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Varanasi) and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur) come from.
The party is not cadre based and had once the support, largely from a cocktail of communities and castes, which have now slipped out of its hands, barring Muslims and upper castes cut up with the BJP. Putting back the caste matrix which worked in its favour for decades in an uphill task for the 47-year-old Priyanka Gandhi.
The SP-BSP alliance and the 10 per cent jobs and educational quota for the upper caste poor decided by the Modi government have put a spanner in the Congress works. While Priyanka Gandhi may carry an aura around her, the party is still facing a dearth of “winnable candidates” in almost all parliamentary constituencies. If it has to win back its core Dalit, Pasi and Muslim vote, it will have to convince them about its winning chances.
“Floating voters and minorities vote tactically and would throw in their lot with Congress if it puts up winnable faces but the truth is there aren’t many,” says Asif Qureshi, a party sympathiser from Chowk in old Lucknow.
The party had put up 105 candidates in the 2017 Assembly elections when it tied up with the Samajwadi Party and won just 7 seats. It contested all the Lok Sabha seats in 2014 but won just two.
The BJP onslaught on her husband Robert Vadra — his clouded land deals and continued questioning by central agencies — could put the Gandhi scion in an uncomfortable position as and when the issue crops up from the electorate.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews, Politics
Yashwant Sinha
By Anand Singh and Prashant Sood,
New Delhi : Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha says opposition unity against the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections is a “work in progress” but feels that the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party should have included Congress in the alliance in Uttar Pradesh that would have “finished the game”.
He also feels even if the concept of one common candidate against the Bharatiya Janata Party has not emerged so far “closer to elections” it may materialise. Even if there is no grand alliance at the national level, there will be state-specific alliances to corner the BJP, says a confident Sinha.
“Yes, the BSP and SP should have accommodated the Congress. That would have finished the game,” he told IANS in an interview about the alliance in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to Lok Sabha.
Sinha, who resigned from the BJP last year and has floated the Rashtra Manch, a non-party platform, said his advice to opposition parties was that they should come together and form strong alliances and have a common minimum programme at the national level.
He said there was no need to go into the “Modi versus who” question being raised by the BJP before the elections and named Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati, Sharad Pawar, H.D. Deve Gowda and Rahul Gandhi as among leaders with qualities to be Prime Minister.
Sinha, 81, expressed hope that if a “mahagatbandhan” (grand alliance) was not created at the national level, there will be effective state-level alliances to take on the BJP.
He said the idea of putting up a common opposition candidate against the BJP has not materialised.
“Perhaps it is not looking like materialising so far, but I am sure closer to elections something may happen,” he said, adding added that efforts were being made in that direction.
Asked about the opposition parties not coming together to form a grand alliance in several states, Sinha said: “it is not easy for disparate elements to come together and these parties are individual separate parties because they are different.
“So it is not easy for them to come together. Some attempts are being made but necessity is the mother of the invention,” he said, adding that in states such as Jharkhand, Karanataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, opposition parties have come together.
“So there are many states where they have come together. There will be issues because they will have to agree not only on the number of seats but specifically which seat but I am hopeful even if this so-called Mahagatbandhan at the national level is not created there will be effective state level alliances to take on the BJP.”
The former Minister said there were some settled principles on the basis of which seat distribution can decided if everyone is liberal and fair about it.
Answering a query on the index of opposition unity, the former Finance and External Affairs Minister said it was work in progress. “Opposition unity is work in progress.”
On a common CMP of opposition, he said efforts are being made in the direction.
He said opposition parties have understood the importance of social media and Modi will not have an advantage in his campaign.
Answering a query on Priyanka Gandhi entering active politics, he said it will have an impact on the voters in Uttar Pradesh as well as nationally and it will help the Congress.
Asked about the opposition candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming elections, he said it is a very idle question that the BJP is persuading people to ask because it suits them.
“The counter to the BJP is who was the Chief Minister candidate of BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand when state elections were held there. And who have been the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate earlier.
“Who have been the BJP prime ministerial candidates earlier. The first time the BJP said that Mr Vajpayee will be the prime ministerial candidate was in 1995 before 1996 elections when Advaniji announced it. Who was the prime ministerial candidate in 1977 when the Janata Party scored such a massive victory?” he asked.
He said there was no declared prime ministerial candidate when Congress stitched an alliance with other parties to form the UPA government in 2004.
“So, therefore, when you look at our political history you will find the parties have anointed somebody only when it suited. Otherwise, they have gone without a so-called commander-in- chief, without a projected leader. More recently the BJP also has been doing it.”
He said it suits the BJP and they were asking everyone to ask this question and were even making fun as BJP chief Amit Shah has done by asking who will be the prime minister (of opposition) on Monday and who will be on Tuesday.
He said the candidate has eventually emerged as was the case in 1996.
Sinha said when Narendra Modi was projected as the prime ministerial candidate, he was chief minister of Gujarat.
“Now we have many chief ministers in opposition ranks. We have many former chief ministers. We have many chief ministers who also have been central ministers. We have central ministers who have occupied important positions. Therefore, anyone can fill the bill.”
Asked if can be Mamata Banerjee or Mayawati, he added more names.
“Mamata, Mayawati, Sharad Pawar, (H. D.) Deve Gowda, Rahul Gandhi,” he said, adding that though Gandhi does not have administrative experience his party was doing well now.
Asked if he had endorsed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier, Sinha said he had not endorsed her.
“I barely said that she has the qualities to be a prime minister. One has to be be very careful or else media twist it. Who does not have the qualities, several people have qualities. That is why I am telling you what was Modi before, he was just chief minister of a state.”
Sinha said he had talked about Mamata Banerjee because a question was posed to him. “No one asked about others.”
To a further question about Mayawati, he said: “I have named all these people who can fill the bill.”
Asked about his assessment of how Rahul Gandhi has come up, he said he has come up very well.
“The way he was made fun of, he has proved them wrong. I think Modi and Amit Shah who wanted a Congress-Mukt Bharat and were talking about it, that has completely vanished from the discussion now.”
Sinha said he will not contest elections.
“As of now, no,” he said, adding that he had decided not to take part in electoral politics before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The former Finance Minister said he did not have problem with the BJP of Vajpayee and Advani but he had issues with the style of working of Modi and party President Amit Shah.
Sinha said ruled out his going back to the BJP but said “it will be a better party without them (Modi and Shah)”.
He said the most important issue against the government was that it has destroyed all the institutions in this country. “The federal structure has been badly hit under this government.”
He named agrarian distress, unemployment, issues concerning Dalits and crimes against women as other issues that the opposition would highlight.
He said considering the country’s diverse political landscape, a federal party concept “is an interesting concept which should be explored”.
He said such a front can have alliances with national parties such as Congress and CPI-M.
Asked if he will play a role in the formation of such a party, Sinha said he can play a role up to a limit. “Your effort depends on your accommodation space that everyone else is prepared to give you.”
Sinha said he will try definitely to bring opposition parties together.
“I will try definitely to make it as reasonable as possible for everyone. I am prepared to give whatever assistance whatever anybody wants. And it will depend on them now.”
(Anand Singh can be reached at anand.s@ians.in and Prashant Sood at prashant.s@ians.in)
(This story is an intellectual property of IANS)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Jaipur : The Congress on Thursday won the Ramgarh Assembly seat in Rajasthan, taking its tally in the 200-member house to 100.
Congress candidate Shafia Khan won by a margin of 12,228 votes after polling 83,311 votes. Her nearest rival, BJP’s Sukhwant Singh, got 71,083 votes.
Jagat Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) finished third with 24,856 votes.
An overjoyed Shafia Khan said: “This is a victory of the people. I congratulate the people for this victory.
“The BJP talks too much and does little. They closed the schools which we had started, they were biased in implementing the social welfare schemes and hence people wanted to come out of the polarized environment they had created.
“So people have voted unitedly for the Congress,” she added.
While Shafia Khan got 44.77 per cent of all votes, the BJP’s vote share was 38.20 per cent.
Overall, 241 votes went to NOTA (None of the Above).
Senior Congress leader Suresh Chaudhary told IANS: “The Congress has built its credibility amongst voters by fulfilling all its promises made in its manifesto. People in the state are fed up with the polarization prank being played by the BJP.
“This broad margin of victory speaks the story,” he said.
Counting of votes was held at the Babu Shobharam Government Arts College in Alwar amid tight security, said Ramgarh Returning Officer Pankaj Sharma.
The election on this seat was scheduled on December 7 along with the rest of Rajasthan Assembly seats but was postponed after BSP candidate Laxman Singh died due to cardiac arrest.
Eventually, polling was held on January 28 with a high voter turnout.
There are 20 candidates in the fray but the main contest involved Shafia Khan, Sukhwant Singh and Jagat Singh.
The Congress aimed to win the seat to hit a century mark in the 200-member House. This win will limit its dependency on anti-BJP parties.
For a simple majority on its own, the party needs 101 seats.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
New Delhi : The Congress on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of compromising national security in the Rafale deal by “denying” to the IAF 90 aircraft it desperately needed and “gifted” Dassault Rs 186 crore more per aircraft at the cost of the public exchequer in the deal it signed with France.
Citing a media report that India ended up paying 41 per cent more per aircraft for the 36 fighter jets ordered in 2015, Congress leader P. Chidambaram also expressed alarm over how objections by three senior Defence Ministry officials “to all aspects of the deal announced by Modi” were overruled by the other members in the negotiating team.
“Since Modi announced the new deal in April, 2015 and scrapped the UPA era deal, one question that has loomed large is why the Modi government rejected the need and demand of 126 aircraft made by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and decided to buy only 36 Rafale fighters.
“This question has never been answered either by the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, the Finance Minister or the Law Minister, who all at one point or the other have come out in defence of the deal,” Chidambaram told the media at the AICC.
Citing the 13 India-specific enhancements (ISEs) asked by the IAF, Chidambaram said the negotiated price was euro 1.3 billion which was to be paid under both the UPA and the Modi deal.
“If 126 aircraft had been purchased, Dassault would have recovered the Euro 1.4 billion in over 10 years and 6 months. But with only 36 aircraft being purchased under the new deal, this will be recovered in just 36 months.
“Dassault gains in two ways. Firstly the increase of price per aircraft, secondly if the government orders for another 90 aircraft, Dassault will again charge for India-specific enhancements,” he said.
“Dassault is laughing all the way to the bank. The government has wronged the country in two ways – compromised national security by denying to the IAF 90 aircraft they desperately need and cost the public money 25 million euro more per aircraft that is equal to 186 crore more per aircraft,” he said.
While the Modi government and the BJP have been citing the Supreme Court verdict to have established the deal to be clean and defeated the Congress’ attempts to malign the Modi government, Chidambaram said the issue was a matter not to be judicially scrutinised as the court does not have the jurisdiction and reiterated the demand for a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC).
“Besides the price factor, the media report revealed how every aspect of the deal has been objected by three members of the negotiating team and how their objections were overruled by 4:3 by the team. We have heard this happening only in judiciary not in the government decision-making process. We reiterate the demand for a JPC.”
“Only a parliamentary panel has the right to call people, examine documents and ask questions. That is why we are pressing for a JPC. But we know this government will never agree for that,” added Chidambaram.
To a suggestion that the coming session will be a “lame duck” sitting and a JPC cannot be formed, he said “if in the first week of January the Parliament is not a lame duck, why should it be so from the First of February.”
The former finance minister said if the government thought that it had succeeded in giving a “quiet burial” to the Rafale controversy it was wrong. “The controversy is very much alive and this morning it acquired a new dimension,” he said.
He said this also raised serious questions about the process of decision making in the NDA government. “The man who got away was Manohar Parrikar (the then Defence Minister) who passed the buck to the Cabinet Committee on Security! Clever man!.”
Should the government place an order for another 90 aircraft on Dassault it will certainly charge ISE-loaded price at which it sold 36 aircraft although the ISI cost would have been recovered on the sale of 36 aircraft. “Perhaps for this reason the government deleted ‘follow on’ clause to buy more aircraft,” he said.
The UPA government had negotiated a deal to purchase 126 Rafale fighter jets of which 18 were to be bought in fly-away condition and the remaining 108 to be manufactured in India under licence. However, the NDA government entered into an inter-government agreement with France to buy 36 jets in fly-away condition.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions, Politics
By Amulya Ganguli,
Unlike the Congress, the communists or the socialists, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has rarely seen major fissures.
Occasionally, a person may have become involved in political feuds within the party, as was Balraj Madhok, who was the president of the Jan Sangh, the BJP’s earlier avatar. But such ruptures were few and far between in the saffron camp whereas the Congress, the communists and the socialists had split more than once.
The reason why the Jan Sangh and the BJP escaped such break-ups was that the former was never a major party, having always been on the sidelines of national politics and, therefore, never seriously felt the pulls and pressures of ideological and organisational competitions with rival outfits.
As for the BJP, it is only now that it has emerged as a formidable force, mainly in northern and western India, and is still gingerly feeling its way elsewhere which includes suppressing some of its basic tenets relating to lifestyles.
The first major shock which the BJP experienced was when the Hindutva activists brought down the Babri Masjid in 1992, which is believed to have made Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the party’s tallest leaders at the time, contemplate resignation.
But the storm passed, making a party stalwart, Vijayraje Scindia, note with relief and satisfaction that the BJP did not split.
Since then, even as the party’s footprints have increased, those of its opponents have shrunk, viz. of the Congress and the communists, while the socialists have virtually disappeared.
The year 2014 marked the BJP’s rise to the top of the mountain. But, now, suddenly, after several electoral setbacks, there are signs that it may not be able to stay there for long.
Not surprisingly, there are hints of disquiet among the BJP’s allies, leading to patchwork repairs as in Bihar, where the party succeeded in smoothing the ruffled feathers of the Lok Janshakti Party.
But it could not prevent another ally, the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, from leaving for the rival United Progressive Alliance.
Meanwhile, the ever-resentful Shiv Sena, which formally remains an ally, has continued to needle the BJP, this time over the Rafale deal by echoing the Congress’s line.
But these rumbles may have been dismissed as typical of responses when Big Brother appears vulnerable. But what is a great deal more significant than what the allies say or do are some of the observations of the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, which look like a direct attack on the party bigwigs.
For instance, his view that elections cannot be won by someone merely because he speaks well cannot but be interpreted as criticism of none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, whose oratorical skills have become something of a lifeboat for the BJP for navigating troubled waters.
However, the fact that Modi’s rhetorical flourishes were not of much help to the party in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh recently have not escaped the attention of political observers.
If Gadkari is saying that eloquence is not enough to cross the electoral Rubicon, it may be because he believes that others in the party are not playing their part.
For instance, he has said: “If I am the party president and my MPs and MLAs are not doing well, then who is responsible? I am.” The dig is too clearly aimed to need elucidation.
In addition, his opinion that the views of juniors have to be factored in and that “people must have collective spirit” is again a barb at the persons in organisational positions.
But even more than this not-too-veiled criticism, what was noteworthy was Gadkari’s reference to the country’s pluralist ethos, which runs counter to the BJP’s homogenising outlook based on a Hindu agenda.
By saying that India’s reputation as a tolerant country has attracted migrants to come and settle down, Gadkari has expressed a view which has little in common with Veer Savarkar’s concept of outsiders as “aliens” and M.S. Golwalkar’s preference for the status of second-class citizens for them.
But perhaps what is most suggestive of Gadkari’s distinctive line of thinking was his laudatory references to Jawaharlal Nehru, the man the BJP loves to hate at the moment.
Gadkari’s comments have naturally set off speculations about his motive. It has been said, for instance, by former BJP leader, Yashwant Sinha, that the Union minister is positioning himself as a person who can take Modi’s place in a coalitional arrangement in case the BJP does not get a majority of its own, as is generally believed.
By posing as a kinder, gentler person, Gadkari may be more acceptable to the old and new allies in a post-general election scenario.
He has two plus points. One is his proximity to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which will keep his critics in the BJP at bay, and the other is his reputation for efficiency, which has been amply demonstrated in the highway constructions and other infrastructural developments under his aegis.
For analysts, the expected ups and downs at personal levels in the coming weeks and months may well represent the mainstreaming of the BJP from being a rigid, sectarian outfit.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
—IANS
