Show of strength by NDA, Oppn: Big picture soon

All is set for two crucial back-to-back meetings this week; one being hosted by the Congress party in Bengaluru and the other by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who wants to bring some of the former NDA partners back into its fold. These meetings are likely to give some clarity on the political scenario that is going to unfold in the next 15 days or so.

As far as the Congress-led opposition parties meeting is concerned, the grand old party feels that this meeting is very important for two reasons: One, it wants to firm up the opposition unity fast and, two, it hopes this meeting will put them back in the role of being an alliance leader. It has even finally decided to take a step backward and announced that it would oppose the Delhi ordinance and expressed hope that AAP would join the Monday meeting. This may be an attempt to placate the AAP. But then a question arises if such moves and compromises will really help the opposition parties strike a broad-based alliance.

Even if the Congress temporarily succeeds, can it create confidence among the general public that their marriage would last five years? As far as putting up a show is concerned, the party is leaving no stone unturned. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and, perhaps, Priyanka Gandhi will also attend the meeting. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah will host a grand dinner for them. The list of participants is quite big, and a good number of the new invitees are from Tamil Nadu. Next two days will give an indication of how these parties behave and what common agenda they can evolve. Political circles are still not sure of any outcome of this meeting.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a meeting of present and select NDA members who had quit the alliance in the past. Contrary to speculations, BJP has not invited the TDP, but has sent an invitation to Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan. Apparently, the BJP wants to see that Jana Sena is kept away from TDP. If this is the BJP game plan then, it would prove to be a disaster for the third consecutive term for Pawan Kalyan who has started dreaming of becoming the Chief Minister. It would result in a triangle contest with Jana Sena-BJP on one side, TDP and YSRCP on other two sides. This will only help YSRCP to come back to power.

Pawan Kalyan, no doubt, has high regard for the Prime Minister, but whether he will allow YSRCP to easily get back into the driver’s seat by sailing with BJP or not needs to be watched. He has been advocating an alliance among TDP, Jana Sena and BJP. Mere criticism, even sharp criticism, against YSRCP makes no sense if the BJP does not decide to put up a united fight against the Jagan government.

With leaders like Ram Madhav, the new entrant and last CM of united Andhra Pradesh, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, in the party, chances of Jana Sena, TDP and BJP contesting polls jointly is a remote possibility unless Modi-Amit Shah duo decides so. These leaders have always been against TDP.

Apart from alliances, it also remains to be seen if the NDA meeting will give any indication of early Lok Sabha polls. Speculations are rife that Modi government may decide to hold Lok Sabha and five state assembly polls in one go. Let us hope the political maze will become clearer after these two meetings.