The BJP’s central election committee, which includes Chief Ministers, state presidents, election in-charges of various states and other senior party leaders, was scheduled to meet at 8 pm on February 29 at the party headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.
The members, including the CMs of UP, Rajasthan, Assam and Madhya Pradesh, were kept waiting for almost three hours. The proceedings did not start till 11 pm, since PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda were in an over two-hour long meeting at Lok Kalyan Marg to shortlist names for the first list of BJP Lok Sabha candidates.
One embarrassed CM explained that he utilised the waiting time gainfully at the BJP’s office by examining the extensive book collection at the party library.
When the official meeting finally started, general secretary, organisation, B L Santosh read out the names and few dared interject or make suggestions. The common refrain was “whatever the party thinks appropriate”. So much so that 50-odd names from UP were cleared in barely 20 minutes.
No loose talk
Last week, PM Modi summoned a meeting of all Central ministers, both juniors and seniors, to meet him at the swanky new convention centre, Bharat Mandapam, at Pragati Maidan. No government official was present.
Modi gave cautionary guidelines to his ministers in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. He warned that in the next few weeks they should be extremely careful about who they meet and what they say.
There should be no loose talk that could embarrass the party or be misinterpreted. In this context, Modi referred to the meeting between the late Pramod Mahajan and Sharad Pawar that ended in a googly.
Some of those present were too junior to be aware of the history of the failed talks the PM was referring to (In 2004, Mahajan met Pawar to discuss a Sena-BJP-NCP tie-up under then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s instructions. However, Mahajan leaked the news prematurely and the deal was called off).
Is there a secret deal this time with a regional party that the BJP wants to keep under wraps till just before the polls?
Way “not” to go
Almost the entire Congress party believes it is unwise for Rahul Gandhi to contest again from Wayanad in Kerala, where he won 64 per cent of the votes in 2019.
Gandhi’s victory was thanks to the support of its ally, the Indian Union Muslim League ( IUML), since 29 per cent of the constituency’s voters are Muslim.
The apprehension is that IUML support to Gandhi in Kerala could backfire for the Congress in north India. Even CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, considered a close confidant of the Gandhi family, advised Rahul against it.
Congress’s principal opposition in Kerala, the LDF, made it clear that it will not put up a token fight against the Congress in Wayanad, even though it is an ally in the INDIA bloc at the national level.
To demonstrate its determination, the Left alliance pre-empted the Congress announcement by saying that heavyweight Annie Raja, wife of CPI general secretary D Raja, will contest from Wayanad. Practically the only person rooting for Wayanad is K C Venugopal, since he handles the constituency, which enhances his clout with Rahul.
The alternative choice of a seat in south India for Rahul was between Karnataka and Telangana. Since a party survey in Karnataka suggested that no seat was 100 per cent safe, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy was keen on Rahul standing from his former Lok Sabha seat of Malkajgiri. But such is Venugopal’s clout that Rahul is to contest from his old constituency.
One foot still in
Pollster Prashant Kishor declared in 2021 that he was opting out of political consultancy, which has earned him both prominence and affluence. For the last 17 months, Kishor has been touring the interiors of Bihar, his home state. He has been campaigning under the banner of Jan Swaraaj, against Bihar’s alleged maladministration under both Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar.
While Kishor claims he has given up political consultancy work, the organisation he founded, the Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), is still thriving. IPAC has been hired in West Bengal by the TMC for its Lok Sabha campaign. Officially, IPAC is headed by Pratik Jain, director and co-founder. Kishor claims he has no stake in the company, but Jain still deferentially describes Kishor as his mentor.
IPAC, which handles tweets and videography for TMC candidates, has been hired by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, even though the Bengal CM herself is deeply unhappy with the polling company, whose brash, eager-beaver young employees have trod on the toes of many old-time politicians. Interestingly, Kishor met Chandrababu Naidu for three hours in Hyderabad recently, although IPAC had worked for his rival Jagan Mohan Reddy in the 2019 Assembly poll in AP.
Is there a secret deal this time with a regional party that the BJP wants to keep under wraps till just before the polls?
16
1
10.03.2024
The BJP’s central election committee, which includes Chief Ministers, state presidents, election in-charges of various states and other senior party leaders, was scheduled to meet at 8 pm on February 29 at the party headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.
The members, including the CMs of UP, Rajasthan, Assam and Madhya Pradesh, were kept waiting for almost three hours. The proceedings did not start till 11 pm, since PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda were in an over two-hour long meeting at Lok Kalyan Marg to shortlist names for the first list of BJP Lok Sabha candidates.
One embarrassed CM explained that he utilised the waiting time gainfully at the BJP’s office by examining the extensive book collection at the party library.
When the official meeting finally started, general secretary, organisation, B L Santosh read out the names and few dared interject or make suggestions. The common refrain was “whatever the party thinks appropriate”. So much so that 50-odd names from UP were cleared in barely 20 minutes.
No loose talk
Last week, PM Modi summoned a meeting of all Central ministers, both juniors and seniors, to meet him at the swanky new........
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