By Rahil Nora Chopra
Reactions to Priyanka Gandhi’s
entry into politics show she is not just a challenge for the BJP but also a
message to the anti-BJP opposition that the grand old party still has a stronghold
over large parts of the country. With Priyanka’s presence, the party has a
fighting chance in the city constituencies such as Kanpur, Saharanpur,
Ghaziabad, Jhansi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Farrukhabad, Barabanki, Varanasi,
Padrauna and Pratapgarh, apart from the family pocket boroughs of Amethi and
Rae Bareli. Congress is already threatening to wean away upper-caste votes from
the BJP and Priyanka’s arrival can boost this attraction. The party could also
upset the calculations of the BSP-SP alliance by splitting the anti-BJP votes.
Although the Samajwadi Party has welcomed the entry of Priyanka, Mayawati is
reportedly fuming over it as the presence of Indira Gandhi’s granddaughter is
expected to influence the outcome in the urban seats.
CONGRESS READY FOR A COUP IN MANEKA FAMILY
Congress may be all set to
stage a virtual coup in the family of Indira Gandhi’s estranged daughter-in-law
and BJP minister Maneka Gandhi by wooing her restive son Varun to cross over to
the other side. Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi are said to be already in touch with
him and feel that his switching sides might help in bringing round a number of
former Congressmen to come back to the party. Varun has been unhappy with the
BJP leadership for not giving him due importance in Uttar Pradesh, where he
even nursed the ambition of being projected as a prospective chief ministerial
candidate. But Congress president Rahul Gandhi has said he was unaware of any
speculation about Varun Gandhi joining his party. This has not, however, abated
the buzz is that Varun may be joining Congress very soon.
UTTARAKHAND CONGRESS STALLS BUT BJP MARCHES
AHEAD
After the local bodies election
in Uttarakhand the BJP is now bracing for the Lok Sabha poll by organising programmes
and meetings with a massive rally planned on 2nd February in Dehradun, in which
senior leaders and office bearer are coming from Delhi to participate, marking
the official launch of the BJP. According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will start his campaign from the first week of March in Uttarakhand. On
the other hand, Congress is still fighting with each other and state Congress
President Pritam Singh and Indira Hridayesh are unitedly fighting with the
Harish Rawat group. They both are opposing Lok Sabha ticket to Harish Rawat as
they blame him for the defeat of Indira Hridayesh’s son Sumit and Dinesh
Agarwal for the mayorship in the local bodies election and Pritam Singh has
suspended many Rawat supporters from the party. Now Harish Rawat is pressing
hard to the high command to bring back his supporters in the party. Due to the infighting
Congress is yet to launch its Lok Sabha campaign.
BENGAL BJP PLAYS HINDU CARD
After espousing the cause of
farmers, BJP in West Bengal has started playing with Hindu sentiments. In the Malda
rally the BJP leaders declared that with the passage of the Citizen Amendment
bill by parliament all the Bengali refugees in Bengal will get citizenship. They
alleged that the TMC has never done any work to help to these Bengali refugees,
and promised to stop infiltration of non-Bengali Hindus into West Bengal if the
BJP comes to power. BJP wants to make an issue of the Citizen Bill to attract
the Hindu voters to its side. Mohit Rai, the convenor of refugee cell of BJP, has
claimed that this bill will help 1crore Bengali refugees of the state and will
change their future.
ANOTHER HUMILIATING DEFEAT FOR RAJASTHAN
BJP
After losing the assembly
election in Rajasthan, BJP has suffered another humiliating defeat in the
election for the post of Jaipur Mayor. The party lost by one vote in the
election despite being in the majority in the Jaipur Municipal Council. Jaipur has
always been a stronghold of BJP and Jaipur Corporation has three-fourths BJP
corporators in the house. The Mayor seat was vacated because of Ashok Lahoty
became an MLA in the assembly election. The BJP corporators had suggested a
name for the post to the state party leaders but they did not heed to their voice
and announced the name of Manoj Bhardwaj, who lost to rebel BJP councilor Vishnu
Lahta with the support of Congress councilors and a few independents along with
20 BJP councilors. Local party workers are claiming that BJP will definitely
lose the Jaipur Lok Sabha seat, where BJP has never lost in the past. (IPA)
The post Priyanka’s Entry Seen Swaying Urban Voters appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
