The master’s strokes
Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi loves taking risks and has surprised his political opponents, vying for his blood, with his masterstrokes. Mr Gogoi had announced that he would quit if his party grabbed less than seven seats in Assam in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. As the counting of votes started on May 16, Mr Gogoi bowed out early confessing his defeat. He announced that he would submit his resignation to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. This brought a smile on the faces of his detractors.
However, the smiles vanished just as soon when they spotted the chief minister relaxing in a golf course. It created the impression that Mr Gogoi was harping on his resignation to pacify his detractors and buy time. The anti-Gogoi camp, realising that Mr Gogoi may not quit, started corner meetings of legislators led by health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
As the news of dissident activities started trickling in, Mr Gogoi announced that he was leaving for New Delhi to submit his resignation. Pretending that his resignation would be accepted by the party high command, the dissident camp was deactivated. The detractors are keeping their fingers crossed for another Gogoi masterstroke.
My family and other stories
The Samajwadi Party’s family saga continues in Uttar Pradesh even though the party was completely wiped out in the Modi tidal wave in the recent elections.
Though the entire party, barring the Yadav clan, took a beating, not a single top leader is willing to take moral responsibility for the debacle. Party leaders, who enjoyed ministerial positions, have been sacked and marching orders will soon be issued to senior ministers. Officials are being issued show-cause notices on various pretexts. But the first family of the party is sitting pretty.
If the grapevine is to be believed, Mulayam Singh Yadav is planning to reinforce the family factor in his party. Mulayam’s grandnephew, Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, is being tipped to contest the Mainpuri seat that Yadav Senior is likely to vacate by month-end. This means one more member of the Yadav family in the Lok Sabha.
Political circles are also agog with reports that Dharmendra Yadav, another nephew of Mulayam, could be appointed state president of the party if Akhilesh vacates the post. Obviously this is one family that stays together because it does politics together. Incidentally, if Tej Pratap does win the by-polls then almost the entire family will be in the Lok Sabha. All in the family!
The incredible sulk
Trinamul Congress has won a landslide, but Mamata Banerjee is unhappy. Winning 24 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Ms Banerjee has decimated CPM, RSP, CPI, Forward Bloc and Congress. The only party which not only escaped the Trinamul tornado, but made giant strides in the state is the BJP. Clearly riding on the Modi wave, the party increased its vote share from six per cent in 2009 to 17 per cent. S.S. Ahluwalia was gifted the Darjeeling seat by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, but BJP deserves full credit for Babul Supriyo’s emphatic victory in Asansol constituency.
However, Ms Banerjee was so incensed by her close friend and party candidate Dola Sen’s shock defeat in Asansol that she sacked heavyweight party leader Malay Ghatak from the post of agriculture minister.
In the first cabinet meeting held after the polls, she also reprimanded two other ministers Sabitri Mitra and Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury for the party’s defeat in two Malda constituencies. She was also angered at Mr Modi’s repeated attack on her integrity. She saw red when at Mr Modi mockingly said how great a painter she was that someone paid Rs 1.8 crore for her painting!
Mr Ghatak was forced to resign. “If Malayda could be punished for the BJP lead in Asansol North then who will take the blame for BJP’s lead in Bhowanipore Assembly seat?” asked a wag. Bhowanipore is one of the seven Assembly seats which comprise Kolkata South constituency. BJP candidate Tathagata Roy polled more votes than Trinamul candidate Subrata Bakshi in Bhawanipore. The chief minister was elected from Bhowanipore!
OH! destiny
Several theories have been floated in Chhattis-garh’s BJP circle to explain the party’s failure to achieve Mission-11 — a target to win all 11 Lok Sabha seats. One theory curiously holds chief minister Raman Singh’s destiny for missing his hat-trick!
Riding on the Modi wave, the BJP was pretty sure to deliver a “perfect 11”. The Modi gale had also hit the tribal heartland where the party had faced a disaster in the Assembly elections five months ago. The BJP had barely managed to cross the half-way mark by securing 49 out of the total 90 seats. The Opposition Congress, which was tantalisingly close to victory, fell short of four seats to stage a comeback.
“Mr Singh was destined to score a hat-trick,” some Congress leaders were then heard saying. Ironically, if talks in the BJP circle are to be taken seriously, Mr Singh’s “hat-trick man destiny” has let his own party down this time. The BJP had maintained a scorecard of 10:1 (BJP 10, Congress 1) in the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh. “No one can defy one’s destiny. Thank god, our tally in the last two polls saved us the blush. We ran short of one seat to achieve our Mission-11, but still could sweep the polls by securing 10 LS seats,” a BJP leader observed.
