GENERAL ELECTIONS 2014
Reports have been in solid state
that the Congress tickets for the Lok Sabha elections are not in demand.
It was reflected in many senior
leaders including ministers like P. Chidambaram and Manish Tewari quitting the
electoral arena. The clear reason was the fear of a certain loss, irrespective
of all the illogical logics given by the Congress party and its politicians
about their acts of ‘taking a break this time’.
But one seat has certainly become
hot for the Congressmen. Even the senior Congress politicians are writing to
the top decision-making body of the Congress party to be given an ‘opportunity’
to contest from the seat.
And the Congress party postponing
the declaration every passing day only confirms this ‘rush’. Congress is yet to
decide on a ‘suitable’ candidate for the seat.
But isn’t that a strategic
blunder? After all, anyone who is chosen to contest from this seat would need
time to galvanize voters in his (no chance of any ‘her’ as of now) favour to
the extent that a definite loss can be equated with a winning scenario.
This is when this parliamentary
constituency has become the most prestigious Lok Sabha fight in the country.
Other parties have declared their
candidates well in advance and they have registered their ground presence to initiate
the poll canvassing that is expected to intensify by April last as the polling
there is scheduled to be held on May 12, in the last phase of General Elections
2014.
Yes, Narendra Modi going to Varanasi has already
decided the poll outcome in favour of BJP.
Now, for the other parties, the
options left are either registering a symbolic presence or trying to gain a
political martyr’s status (that Arvind Kejriwal is trying) or trying to get a
symbolic victory (with added bonus of scaled up perception of loyalty to the
First Family and the Congress party) by denying Narendra Modi a large-margin
victory, something that Congress strategists would be thinking of.
So, Congress, its possible, is
taking its time to find a name that could effectively deliver on reducing the
vote count of Modi.
Digvijay Singh, Rashid Alvi or
Ajai Rai - but Congress needs to see the exercise doesn’t get too stretched so
as leave the party high and dry with yet another embarrassment.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
