By Nora Chopra
MOURNFUL RAHUL RECOVERING IN MEXICO!
The million-dollar question being asked in the Congress camp is ‘where is the Congress prince Rahul Gandhi?’ Why did the heir to the Gandhi legacy go missing from important functions of the party? His absence was felt for the first time when the vice-president of the Congress was not present at the foundation day of his party, where he is supposed to hoist the party flag in the years to come. Again murmurs intensified when he went missing even at the function where the newly appointed youth Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja took charge of the organisation of which Rahul had full control. Youth Congress has always been his favourite but even then he was not present to see the new youth Congress chief take charge in the presence of other general secretaries like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Janardhan Dwivedi and Mukul Wasnik. But his serial absconding reached its climax when he also went missing from the meeting of the CEC and was not party to the approval the Delhi’s first list of 25 candidates. Grapevine within the party says that Rahul is unhappy and so he has left the country. Sources in the Congress party claim that he is relaxing with some friends in Acapulco, the world famous beach of Mexico.
WHO WILL BE LOP AFTER AZAD?
Anand Sharma should not be very happy. Even if the leader of opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, whose term expires in February next month, does not get a second term in Rajya Sabha because of the fractured verdict resulting in the imposition of the governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir, Anand may not be the consensus candidate succeeding Azad. The thinking in the party is that Anand is known to be too arrogant for the job, which needs carrying everyone along with it. Moreover, it needs someone who can liaise with the treasury benches too. Anand Sharma is junior to many MPs who do not take him seriously. A very large section of the party is opposed to Anand’s name. The view emerging in the party is that the party’s priority should be to replace a Muslim with another or it would not send the right message. But in case they fail to get an appropriate person for the job of the LOP, the second choice can be of Karan Singh. Karan Singh is from Jammu and Kashmir as well, much like Azad. He is also a known Hindu face of the Congress by virtue of his long time association with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, but is respected by the Muslims also. Karan Singh’s name is making the rounds. Those lobbying for Karan Singh think that he can even counter the communal agenda unleashed by the fringe elements of the BJP, so his chances are much brighter than Anand Sharma.
IS SANDEEP DIKSHIT JOINING THE BJP?
Sandeep Dikshit, who was the prince of Delhi and heir to the ex chief minister of the Congress party Sheila Dikshit’s legacy, is likely to join the BJP. No one should be surprised over move of the son of the three times chief minister of Delhi. Congress made his mother the CM three times in a row for full fifteen years, he was the party spokesperson but after the party lost the Lok Sabha elections he just went missing. For last many months, he has been critical of Rahul Gandhi. When the party approached him to contest the Vidhan Sabha election, he refused giving full indication that he was no more interested in staying in the Congress. PC Chacko, the in-charge of Delhi, had personally called Sandeep requesting him to contest or even campaign for the upcoming polls, but he had refused bluntly. However, the question being asked is who would follow whom the son would follow his mother or the mother would follow the son?
PDP MAY FORCE BJP TO DROP ARTICLE 370, AFSPA ISSUES
The BJP-PDP alliance is on and their government will be formed after the Delhi polls. It was only after the PDP demand for a common minimum programme clarifying the BJP’s stand on Article 370 and AFSPA that forced the two parties to put the alliance in abeyance and forcing the governor to put the assembly in suspended animation. The BJP could not have gone to polls after giving up their core issues in J&K like Article 370 and their stand on AFSPA. The deal between the BJP and the PDP is on that they would form the government in J&K and would even have a minimum common programme minus the Article 370 and the AFSPA. But only after the Delhi elections.
CONGRESSMEN AFRAID TO CONTEST DELHI POLLS
The Congress leadership is in dilemma whether the party should field the Delhi PCC chief Arvinder Singh Lovely or not in the Delhi assembly election from his Gandhinagar seat that elected him in 2013. The party leadership is keen to field him but Lovely is reluctant to contest and he is scared that he may not win. He has told the party that since he is the PCC chief he would not be able to campaign for party colleagues if he is bogged down with his own election and if he campaigns for the party in Delhi he will not be able to concentrate on his own election. But his apprehension stems from the fact that during the Lok Sabha elections Sandeep Dikshit lost by 38,000 votes from his immediate AAP candidate who was second in the Gandhinagar Assembly segment from where lovely was a sitting MLA. Besides, another cause for his reluctance to contest is the possibility of the Muslim vote which opted for the Congress in the last assembly elections and is likely to shift to AAP this time. Lovely is not the only one reluctant to contest. Even Ajay Maken who has been made the chairman of the campaign committee and is the party’s chief ministerial face is reluctant to contest. He too had lost the Lok Sabha election miserably. His fear is that if he who is the chairman of the campaign committee loses this election then that would be the end of his political career. But he has no option but to yield to the pressure from the leadership. Meanwhile, the party wants him to contest from New Delhi assembly Seat against Kejriwal. But till date he has not agreed. This seat from where Sheila Dikshit was defeated by Kejriwal comes under his parliamentary constituency. His first option was Rajouri Garden. But now he has agreed to contest from Sadar. Sadar seat is said to be Jagdish Tytler’s turf and comparably safe as Tytler has worked over there and enjoys support of the locals. But Maken’s victory largely depends on Tytler’s support. (IPA)