The fight for the 2024 Parliament Polls would, by all indications, be bitter. This despite the ruling BJP and its mascot Prime Minister Narendra Modi towering over others in terms of national appeal and mass support. A restive Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who converted his regional ruling party the Telangana Rashtra Samithi into a whimsical ‘national’ outfit the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, fired the first shot. The mass rally he held in Khammam in Telangana saw a line-up of four chief ministers on Wednesday. In neighbouring Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed up the next day to launch a slew of development projects as the assembly polls there were also nearing. The Election Commission, meanwhile, announced the first set of assembly polls of the year — for Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. The entire year would see the political temperature rising, with assembly polls in six more states, followed the next year by the General Elections.
As most states have strong regional parties, the BJP cannot hope to have a cakewalk. However, the hint that has come from the KCR-show in Khammam was music to the BJP’s ears. Even the regional forces remain as fragmented as ever. Top faces like Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Pawar were nowhere to be seen. Kumar made it clear he was not an invitee and that he was not enthused at the KCR push. KCR on his part shifted gear from the Jai Telangana slogan to Jai Bharat, just as PM Modi had sought to transform himself before 2014. The message is loud and clear.
Granted that the non-BJP parties fighting the polls under different groupings somehow win a sufficient number of seats to form the next government at the Centre, the logical next step is to choose the Prime Minister. The BJP or the Congress can nominate one easily. On the other side, each greedy shark among the regional chieftains would propose himself for the post. After a hard bargaining, whoever picks the mantle would – as past experience showed – bear a crown of thorns. Leg-pulling from the wayward leaders would begin from day-one and the new government’s lifespan could be numbered. The reason why the regionalists do not want to keep the Congress in the forefront for such an anti-BJP alliance is clear: they need the bargaining power to grab the PM’s post. Aiming high is not a bad idea, but these are men with feet of clay. Their personal interests would spoil the show from the very start, leading to the collapse of the government sooner than later.
