By Rahil Nora Chopra
Opposition parties are meeting on November 22 to discuss the anti-BJP alliance and Ashok Gehlot will meet with Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on behalf of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. But a major question that remains unsolved is whether Mayawati will go with Shivpal Yadav’s Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party or with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Analysts say if the BJP arm-twists Mayawati then she may go with Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party. This would mean that the split in Samajwadi party may be final and thanks to scheming by outsiders the reunion between Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav now looks impossible. The tussle started over the issue of party leadership, which Mulayam had settled in his son’s favour in 2012, though Shivpal Yadav too was a claimant. With much water having flowed down the Gomti since then, a patch-up may simply be out of question. Apparently Mulayam tried to avoid a split but eventually failed. Two days back he flew down to Delhi with Akhilesh Yadav for a meeting with Naidu. It means that Mulayam will stay with his son. According to SP founder-leader Benni Prasad Verma, if ever Mulayam has to choose between his son and brother he will go with the son. Although Mayawati was inclined to go with SP and Congress, since she allied with Ajit Jogi’s party in Chhattisgarh, it will indirectly help the BJP and as such it goes against the interest of Opposition unity.
UP MINISTER OPPOSES NAME CHANGES
UP cabinet Minister and SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar has attacked his political ally BJP for changing the names of cities, railway stations and district headquarters. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath has been on a name-changing spree. Rajbhar is protesting against the BJP government for misleading the backwards, Dalits and poor people so that they do not think about education and employment of their children. He feels BJP is diverting people’s attention from their real issues by going for these name changes. Rajbhar asks if the names of cities, district and other places are being changed, why doesn’t the party change the names of minister Mohsin Raza, BJP national spokeperson Shahnawaz Husain and Union minister Muktar Abbass Naqvi. He also blamed the BJP government for lack of vision. Party sources say Yogi will soon have a talk with Rajbhar and the issue will be resolved while political observers say Rajbhar will soon leave the alliance and could perhaps join the BSP.
BJP ENDS UP BIG LOSER IN POST-2014 BY-ELECTIONS
Results of most by-elections held after the 2014 Lok Sabha election have gone against the BJP. Recently in the Karnataka by-elections, although BS Yeddyurappa managed to save his Lok Sabha seat from Shimoga, albeit with lower margin, the party lost Bellary and other seats. If Opposition unity materializes, it will affect BJP most in the party with its alliance partners won 73 seats of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats. Also, 16 seats were won with a margin of 50 percent, but the party has lost three seats in the by-elections in Kairana, Gorakpur and Phulpur. If the Opposition alliance fights against BJP, the results in 2019 will be different unless Narendra Modi performs a miracle and win the elections.
BJP, TMC UP THE ANTE AHEAD OF 2019
After BJP president Amit Shah set a target of a minimum 22 seats in the coming Lok Sabha election from Bengal, the fight between BJP and TMC has become so tensed that neither party wants to lose any chance to politicize any issue. Recently in a so-called terrorist encounter five Bengali people were killed in Tinsukia district of Assam. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has blamed the National Register of Citizens of India for the incident and TMC is organizing agitations in different places. Mamata is making an issue of the lakhs of Bengalis leaving from NRS in Assam and accusing the central government of planning the ouster the Bengalis from Assam. BJP state president Dilip Ghosh has written a letter to home minister Rajnath Singh for ordering an inquiry into the Assam episode in which five Bengalis are killed. Mamata has sent a delegation of TMC leaders to the site of encounter and is appealing to the Bengalis of Assam to come to West Bengal to live there. Ghosh has a tough task in countering the TMC allegation. (IPA)
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