All parties brace for ‘Kisme Kitna Dum Hai’ test

The murky political scenario is slowly getting cleared. The BJP is not much interested in its journey towards South. It is focussing maximum on the northern states, which matter most, to be back in power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has realised that it is not going to be a cakewalk in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. These two states are important for BJP as together they account for 430 Assembly seats and 35 and 29 Lok Sabha seats respectively.

Till recently, it was felt that in Rajasthan, the BJP would have a cake walk. In Mewar and many other regions, people were openly saying Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was a good man, but the party would be defeated. They were giving slogans “Ab ki baar BJP Sarkar.” The rift between Sachin Pilot and Gehlot would decimate the party, it was felt. Even some surveys indicated that the Congress would lose, and BJP would win with comfortable majority. That was sometime between April and July. But as the winter political festival begins now, there seems to be a change in the situation. The recent steps taken by Congress party and the patch-up between Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot have helped the party regain fairly good ground and it appears it is going to be neck-to-neck fight despite strong undercurrent of anti-incumbency factor. The BJP has also this time sidelined Vasundhara Raje Scindia. This too has led to the BJP losing some ground. But the saffron party exudes confidence that they will come to power. Surveys in Chambal area indicate that the BJP must put in lot of efforts to be back in driver’s seat.

Similarly, in the Telugu states, the BJP has pushed all its leaders and followers into a state of confusion with its acts. In Telangana, it lost its image as it had given up hopes of emerging a real alternative to BRS soon after Karnataka poll results, thereby giving a fresh lease of life to the Congress which till then was dormant. A strong impression has gone around that BJP and BRS are two sides of the same coin. On the other hand, the Congress has surged ahead and is now giving sleepless nights for the ruling party.

In Andhra Pradesh, though BJP and Jana Sena are officially in alliance, the sudden developments such as sending TDP national president to judicial remand and the BJP’s stoic silence has raised many a questions and people now strongly believe that BJP still has a soft corner towards YSRCP.

Pawan Kalyan, sensing that if he does not act quickly, his party may have to stay out of Assembly again, has announced coalition with the TDP to jointly contest the polls. This has given a boost to the cadre in both the parties. Pawan also made it clear that he could have sailed with BJP during polls, but it would affect his electoral prospects.

So, he has come to a clear understanding with TDP on alliance and they have also worked out the broad outline on how to put the state back on track. Both are clear that they need to work together for 10 years to see that AP would become a progressive state. ‘Kisme Kitna Dum Hai,’ next few months will decide