Amit Kushari
It is said that there is no permanent friendship or enmity in politics. It is also said that politics makes strange bedfellows. Just before the electoral war in India we are witnessing today a strange reshuffling of friends and foes. Yesterday’s bosom friends are sworn enemies today and yesterday’s enemies are entering into electoral alliances today. Electoral arithmetic is the only consideration in this game of alliances and every party is trying its best to maximise its seats in the next Lok Sabha. So far we have not seen parties allying with their main electoral opponents but barring this every other alliance or conflict is possible. Congress cannot ally with BJP, DMK cannot ally with AIADMK, NC cannot ally with PDP, Mamata cannot ally with Marxists, JDU cannot ally with RJD — barring these opposite poles, every other alliance is possible.
Anna Hazare’s sudden change of heart towards active politics as well as Arvind Kejriwal is really very startling. In 2011 Anna was a very tall apolitical figure and it appeared that with his blessings even a losing party could win. Arvind Kejriwal, his close follower/ chela, left Anna Hazare to form a separate political party (AAP) and also proved his mettle in the electoral war of Delhi assembly. The chela’s success, however, did not apparently please the guru. Although verbally he continued to show some vague sense of happiness with Kejriwal, his ill will against Kejriwal was quite obvious from his actions. Some people say that Anna Hazare’s heart is filled with jealousy and that he is making some plan to reduce the voting percentage of Kejriwal in Delhi and other northern areas of India. He has found a new chela in Mamata Bannerji and he is showering all his blessings on her. She will now set up candidates in all seven seats of Dehli and Anna will actively campaign for her party. Even if she cannot win any seat, she will do sufficent damage to Kejriwal, thereby making a BJP victory much easier in Delhi.
Another stunning change of heart was witnessed recently when the diehard Modi baiter, Ram Vilas Paswan, suddenly developed great love for Modi’s party and he will perhaps make an alliance with BJP. The Congress- RJD alliance was giving him only 5 seats whereas BJP may give him 7 seats. But this is not the real reason for this change of heart. He wants to ride on the Modi wave that is sweeping Bihar and whole of northern and western India. If he fights on the Congress and RJD side, he may just win only one seat out of the five—but if he allies with the BJP he may win all the seven seats offered to him. Paswan had earlier left NDA, shedding tears for Gujrat riot victims. Now just look at his volte face !! Congress is desperately trying to bring him back and is trying to threaten him with a CBI case. CBI is still in the grip of the Congress party and till the next Government comes to power, CBI will remain like that. So, if Mr. Paswan has to embrace Modi he must be prepared for a lot of police harassment. Paswan may bear the harassment because if he can really get seven seats in the coming Lok Sabha, he will be a powerful king maker.
Recently, the Left Front along with seven small parties formed a third front and they had invited all the regional parties to join their club. It is interesting to note that Biju Janta Dal of Orissa and Assam Gana Parishad did not attend their meeting. A suspicion arises that they could also be considering getting into Modi’s ship for crossing the electoral sea. Naveen Patnaik has always been asserting that he would maintain a distance from both Congress and BJP. If he joins the NDA it would be really a change of heart. It is also quite apparent now that Chandra Babu Naidu and Jagan Mohan Reddy may join NDA. Really it is difficult to say now, who is a friend and who is a foe.
( The author is former Financial Commissioner, J&K Feedback to the author at 09748635185 or amitkus@hotmail.com )
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