Who Will Grab The Top Post?

There is a scenario predicted by many polls that no party will get majority to form the government. The Congress has not declared any name but it is obvious that Rahul Gandhi will emerge as the choice of the party in line with the tradition. There is ample possibility of his party managing other partners but even if all unite it will be a remote possibility to combine all others to support the party. The problem is that there are many aspirants in other parties, Mulayam Singh of SP has been PM-in-waiting for quite long time and still hopes to try his best. Although chances of SP scoring a respectable number of seats are negligible, he is in a serious race. The record of his government in UP under the stewardship of his son is abysmally poor. There is likely a massive shift in votes from SP to others. Mayawati is another candidate who would claim her position if the Congress needs her help in forming the next government. She may do better than Mulayam but her chances of getting any spectacular results are dim. She may end up being on waiting list.

Nitish Kumar has been a PM hopeful for long and is imagining his chance of realising his dream in a coalition set-up. At the same time, Lalu Prasad is another leader who has claimed that he will be the king-maker. Both of them could have only marginal presence if one looks at the current trends. His party is already showing signs of crumbling and his old associate Ramvilas Paswan has aligned with the BJP formally. The Third Front has indirectly indicated that it may bank on Jayalalithaa, who has already shown inclination to occupy the position of PM. But the Front itself will not prove to be a much of challenge. Another lady is also in the race as Mamata Banerjee is fighting with the support of Anna Hazare.

Considering all this and the faint possibility of AAP getting substantial seats to claim this post, there are not too many takers. In this context, Kejariwal’s self-denial seems to be a ploy as he is now called by media the U-turn man, who makes misleading statements and later acts counter on his assertions. Everything he says he will not do, he finally does. He has claimed earlier that he does not want to be a Minister or he does not want to form the government with the support of the Congress but he became the Chief Minister of Delhi and then having failed to implement his agenda he suddenly left the scene to fight for the Lok Sabha elections, which seems to be a preplanned strategy. He declared that he would not contest the Lok Sabha seat but now he is open. He defended Bharti, who has now been indicted by the court. Two policemen were sent on leave as a result of Kejriwal’s dharna as CM—what a drama and absurdity! Utterances of Arvind Kejriwal and his colleagues are so slippery and contradictory but it is surprising that a section of intellectuals still has faith in his approach. How to believe in a leader who is mercurial in his promises and claims?

Considering the claims and counter-claims of so many, there is a clear chance of Narendra Modi emerging as the head of the government—if he is able to manage allies or invoke a wave, he could get his own majority. There is no doubt he has unleashed a kind of storm that is in the offing and anything is possible irrespective of surveys and astrologers. Although AAP came on the wave of public anger with the government using the plank of transparency, they are most critical of BJP only. Their negativism and free smear campaign are short lived. The entire scenario will become lot clearer, once the elections are declared and the parties declare their candidates.

By NK Singh