2022: Year of reckoning for BJP, Congress

The year 2021 is almost over. It's time for revelry and celebration to usher in a New Year, but, of course, by strictly following Covid-19 appropriate norms. The year 2022 assumes more importance for political parties as they need to face Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. All parties have already started gearing up to meet the poll challenge.

The big question is will 2022 usher in a better period for Congress or will the inertia continue? Will Congress notwithstanding its rate of attrition in the party and the aggressive attitude of Aam Aadmi Party be able to retain power in Punjab? Will the monk-turned-Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath be back in power? What will be the impact of the farmers agitation, and what will be the main issue during the UP poll campaign? This is what has become the hot topic among the political circles. While working out strategies and counter strategies, the politicians have already started sending their horoscopes to know what the stars have in store for them.

The predictions that are pouring in do point out certain interesting facts. Both the Congress in Punjab and the BJP in UP will have to sweat it out but both are likely to retain power. As far as Uttar Pradesh is concerned, this time the caste politics will not be as profound as it used to be. The campaign would be more on development. However, Yogi will have to put in a lot of efforts before he succeeds in coming back to power. BJP is unlikely to get the kind of majority it got last time. It may have to resort to certain tactics like horse trading as well.

Since the issue of Ram Janmabhoomi has been resolved, that cannot be a poll issue. The BJP can take the credit and showcase the way the works are on and how they have transformed Kashi. The advantage it has is that the opposition is still not united and people at this stage do not appear to be in a mood to believe Mayawati, a four-time CM, and Akhilesh Yadav. If development takes centre stage, certainly, the BJP would be ahead of others. Though the opposition parties are making some efforts to forge alliance, the stars predict that they may not be very successful in terms of getting a large number of votes. Congress may not emerge as a strong party in UP. In Punjab, the stars appear to be in favour of Congress party despite the exit of Amarinder Singh from the party. Congress party and its leaders should take full advantage of this ray of hope being offered by 2022. If it fails to do so it will prove to be another year of drift for the grand old party.

BJP has never been a very strong political force in Punjab. On the other hand, AAP is going aggressive and it may emerge as the major opposition. Some of the schemes introduced by the AAP in Delhi seem to be attracting the women in Punjab. Well, things have just started warming up. The results of these two States would certainly give a direction to the political mosaic of the country.