Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The anti-Modi front has broken at many places. Big cracks have started appearing in the alliance. Mamata Banerjee announced that Trinamool Congress will contest the elections alone in Bengal, there will be no alliance with Congress. Bhagwant Mann said that Aam Aadmi Party will contest all the thirteen Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and will win on its own. That means there will be no existence of opposition alliance in Punjab also. Seeing the attitude and style of Nitish Kumar in Bihar, there is panic among Congress and RJD. There are doubts about Nitish’s future, whether he will remain in the alliance and if so, for how long? There is news that Nitish is knocking on the door of BJP, just waiting for the door to open. Akhilesh Yadav has told Congress its status in Uttar Pradesh. He has announced an alliance with Jayant Choudhary, has also fixed the number of seats but has clearly told the Congress that only two seats, Amethi and Rae Bareli, can be left for the Congress. Congress leaders are worried, help has been sought from Sharad Pawar, Pawar has spoken to Mamta on phone. Congress leaders are still claiming that they will talk to Mamata and the disputes will be resolved. He says that Mamata will stay with the alliance because everyone’s goal is the same – to defeat BJP, remove Modi. But Mamata clearly said that Congress should fight alone on 300 Lok Sabha seats across the country, there she will help Congress but in Bengal she does not need Congress’s support. In Bengal, Trinamool Congress alone has the power to defeat BJP. After this there is no scope left. But then on what basis are Congress leaders claiming that they will convince Mamata? What is the real reason for Mamta’s anger? Why is Adhir Ranjan Choudhary adding fuel to the fire? What is the role of Left Front in all this? What will Kejriwal do in Punjab and Delhi? What is Nitish’s plan?
A day before Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra reached Bengal on Thursday, Mamata gave the slogan of ‘Eklo Chalo’. Mamta put the Congress leaders in tension by saying that she has no idea about when Rahul’s visit is coming to Bengal, what is the route of the visit, what is Rahul’s program. Mamta said that Congress has not talked to her about this, nor has she invited her to join the yatra. Mamta told why she was forced to follow the path of ‘Walk Alone’. Mamta said that she is angry with the attitude of Congress. The Congress leadership did not accept any of his suggestions, his views were not listened to in the alliance. Mamta’s strategy is very clear. She knows that the competition in Bengal is with BJP, Congress and Left Front have no strength in Bengal. The accounts of Congress and CPM were not even opened in the assembly elections. Therefore Mamta feels that there is no benefit in joining hands with these two parties. Anyway, even if we fight together, Mamata will not get the Left’s vote at any cost. That’s why Mamata did not want to include the Left in the alliance. He had told this to Congress. Secondly, Mamata offered two seats to Congress but Congress wants at least five seats. That is why Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary was putting pressure on Mamata. He explained to the Congress leadership that Congress can win two seats on its own, if Congress has to get only two seats then what is the need for an alliance with Mamata? That is why Congress leaders used to claim respect for Didi in Delhi and Adhir Ranjan was allowed to give statements against Mamata in Kolkata. Mamta was angry with this. He demanded the Congress leaders to expel Adhir Ranjan from the party and take action against him. But if Congress takes action against Adhir Ranjan, what will it be left with in the name of leadership in Bengal? And in these circumstances, whatever was supposed to happen, happened. Mamta has decided. She will follow the mantra of ‘Ekla Chalo’. And now no matter how much Congress tries, Mamata will not change her course. Now the only thing that can happen is that Congress will work on Mamata’s terms, if Mamata listens to her words then maybe Mamata will leave two seats for Congress.
Bad news for Congress also came from Punjab. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann clearly said that the Aam Aadmi Party will field candidates on all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, will fight alone and will win. Bhagwant Mann said that in Bengal Mamata Banerjee may even agree but in Punjab it is certain that there will be no alliance between Congress and Aam Aadmi Party. Mann said that his party has completed its preparations, now only the candidates are left to be announced. Since Bhagwant Mann said it bluntly and everyone knows that whatever he said, he would have said it only after asking his leader Arvind Kejriwal, hence in this matter Congress had no option other than accepting the fact that Punjab There will be no alliance. There will be no compromise in Punjab, Mamata has refused to compromise in Bengal, the situation is similar in Kerala, there too Congress and Left Front will be face to face. If Akhilesh Yadav is in no mood to give a gesture to Congress in Uttar Pradesh, then where will the alliance be? How it will happen? Actually the initiative of alliance was taken by Lalu Yadav. Explained their respective advantages to both Congress and Nitish Kumar, put Sharad Pawar forward, showed Nitish the dream of becoming Prime Minister and gave Congress an opportunity to become strong again across the country. Congress felt that in the states where it has a direct fight with BJP, there will be a direct fight, there will be no candidates from smaller parties included in the alliance, then there will be no division of votes and Congress will get the benefit from it. In Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Punjab and Delhi, where the Congress has made a clean sweep and where regional parties are strong, the number of seats it gets by bargaining as a national party will be a bonus for the Congress. But leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Hemant Soren, Arvind Kejriwal do not want to let Congress grow stronger by supporting them in their respective states. That is why cracks are visible in the alliance.
In Bihar, Lalu Yadav is trying his best to somehow resolve the matter, Nitish should leave the throne, Tejashwi’s path should be cleared, but now Nitish has understood that neither he will be made the Prime Ministerial candidate nor the coordinator of the alliance. . So now he is talking about this and that. After the kind of statements made by Nitish Kumar in the last 24 hours, discussions are going on that Nitish can change sides at any time and may do something else again. Nitish Kumar, who never takes Modi’s name, is heard roaming around saying thank you to Narendra Modi. Nitish Kumar not only thanked the Central Government and Narendra Modi for honoring Karpoori Thakur with Bharat Ratna, he also started attacking Congress and Lalu Yadav through gestures. That is why discussions intensified that something was happening behind the scenes. Nitish’s attitude is changing. Said thanks to Modi, till then it was fine but after this Nitish also included Congress and RJD. He said that even at that time there was a Congress government at the Centre, he kept demanding Bharat Ratna award to Karpoori Thakur but the Congress government could not give this honor to Karpoori Thakur. After this, Nitish targeted Lalu on the question of familyism without taking his name. Nitish said that Karpoori Thakur did nothing for the family during his lifetime, never took the family forward, he too is following the path of Karpoori, he also did not promote familyism. Nitish said that today’s leaders take the family and sons and daughters forward but Karpoori Thakur was strictly against familyism.
There should not be anything strange if the Chief Minister of Bihar thanks the Prime Minister for giving Bharat Ratna to Karpoori Thakur. But many meanings are being attached to thanking Nitish. Because his two allies, Congress and RJD, criticized Modi for delaying the Bharat Ratna award to Karpoori Babu. When Nitish Kumar says that Karpoori Thakur never promoted his son, then nothing wrong should be seen in this but it will be misinterpreted in the politics of Bihar. Because everyone knows that Lalu Yadav is busy making his son Tejashwi the Chief Minister. That is why he wants to dispatch Nitish to Delhi in the name of alliance. On the other hand, Nitish has been giving such indications for the last several days that he wants to get rid of the anti-Modi alliance, he has distanced himself from the new alliance formed to stop Modi. Took over the chairmanship of JDU party. Lalan Singh, close to Lalu, was dismissed. Made changes in the portfolios of ministers. Nitish Kumar has a history. For Tejashwi, he is a ‘paltu chacha’, he can turn back anytime, he has given complete signals but no signal has come from BJP yet. BJP people are still ascertaining whether Nitish really wants to come with Modi, or whether he wants to put pressure on Lalu by giving such hints. Therefore, it will take some time to confirm what will happen to the alliance in Bihar, who will be with whom. (Rajat Sharma)
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