BJP opens up to its estranged allies to score high in Lok Sabha polls
By Arun Srivastava
Just 13 months back, precisely on February 10, 2023, Narendra Modi had made an audacious boast on the floor of Rajya Sabha “ek akela sab par bhari” (he alone was overpowering for all). He had even said, “one person is proving too much for so many.” He is so confident of his abilities, dexterity and political power that he was heard offering “Modi’s guarantee” to the common people.
During his ten-year rule he virtually turned his allies irrelevant and pushed them out of the political ring. Unfortunately, one feels real pity to watch the same person, the iron man of Indian politics, begging his former allies to come back, join the ranks, for fighting the challenge of the INDIA bloc. Modi abhors the idea of listening to advice and suggestions from any other person. He is the wisest person.
It is an open secret that after winning the 2014 general election he had pushed away leaders like Chandrababu Naidu of Telugu Desam and Sukhbir Singh Badal of Akali Dal, once both were the strongest allies of BJP. He even ignored Navin Patnaik of BJD of Odisha. Modi behaved in a very ruthless manner with them. Modi sent an intelligible message that he did not care for such allies and he was capable of single-handedly winning elections, whether in the states or at the Centre.
Though the Akalis had severed ties with the BJP over the three controversial and now-revoked farm laws , the fact is Badals were feeling let down. Telugu Desam had walked out before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, protesting the Centre’s failure to honour the promises made to Andhra after the 2014 bifurcation of the state. Navin was maintaining an ambivalent approach towards BJP. Chandrababu Naidu and his ally Pawan Kalyan, chief of Jana Sena Party have already begun seat-sharing talks with the BJP leadership. In fact two rounds of discussions had already taken place with Naidu. Modi has also succeeded in assuaging the hurt feelings of Badals. Seat negotiations are also in progress with them.
Modi was so disdainful of opposition that he never took the Congress challenge seriously. Moving around in the make-believe world of superhuman created RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, he thought his jibes against Rahul Gandhi and Gandhi family would turn the Congress redundant. He even launched his campaign to create Congress Mukt Bharat.
Just imagine the party which was written off the political canvass of the country only ten years by the Prime Minister, has started emerging in an aggressive manner. What is most significant is the people at the grass level have been responding to the calls and moves of Rahul Gandhi, who in the true sense is yet to emerge as an alternative.. What is most interesting is that the Congress has no other face except him to counter a battery of saffron stalwarts led by Modi. It is for Bhagwat and Modi to decide. But one thing is certain that Rahul symbolises a new philosophy. During his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, he is talking of the core values of the Indian Constitution and how to protect that.
His losing trust in his own forecast and projections is reflected in the observation of a senior BJP leader. “We are trying to get back all the NDA partners who had left us. For retaining power it is imperative that we must at least get the seats we have in the current house. Modi’s focus is on crossing 400 marks obviously to achieve this we must have our old allies on board”. According to him the BJP leaders must not bully the allies.
The main focus of the PM and his leaders is on the southern states. With the east and north Indian states already reaching saturation level, the party can hope to increase its share in the southern states. For attaining this it is imperative that it has a major share of seats in Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The BJP is working on the formula to leave the space open for the regional parties in the assembly elections.
The BJP is facing a major challenge in Bihar. It is finding it tough to make Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi accept its offer. The JD(U) is also not agreeable to the suggestion of the BJP leaders to leave the claim on some of the seats, out of 16, it had won in 2019. With Nitish going to the UK for treatment, the BJP leadership is hopeful of JD(U) yielding to its pressure after his return. (IPA Service)