The BJP is keeping its fingers crossed over the fallout of Kalyan Singh’s exit on the politics of Uttar Pradesh, which many say holds the key to the formation of the next government at the Centre. The BJP has reasons to find solace in the arguments that “discredited” political leaders are no problem for their rivals. And Kalyan is of course “discredited”. He left the BJP, spewed venom on its tallest leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, returned after some years, promoted his family members and close aides, walked out of the party again to assuage personal egos and changed not only his party but also his philosophy.
The Hindutva poster boy of yesteryears is ready to don the Samajwadi cap even as he facilitated his son’s entry into the SP, against whom he fought for more than three decades. But it would be harder for Kalyan this time to convince his caste men, who rallied behind the OBC mascot of the BJP when he quit the party in 1999, that his decision to desert the BJP was for the good of his Lodh community.
Kalyan’s biggest strength is caste. He arm-twisted the BJP and had the final word on many issues for the simple reason that he had a solid following of the Lodh community behind him. His earlier decision (of 1999) to walk out of the BJP proved too costly for his parent outfit. He led to the BJP’s defeat in close to 40 assembly seats and his party bagged around four per cent of the total votes polled in the 2002 assembly polls.
However, he returned to BJP in early 2004 sans his magic and the BJP’s tally in the May Lok Sabha polls came down from 25 to nine seats. The former UP Chief Minister failed again in the 2007 assembly elections when the BJP registered one of its worst performances.
“Caste leaves an impact when it is in a negative sense. Kalyan’s Lodh community rallied behind him when he walked out and deserted him when he returned. It is to be seen if those patterns repeat this time against the backdrop that Kalyan has now exposed himself,” a senior BJP leader said.
BJP strategists admitted Kalyan might have some impact on six parliamentary seats -Farrukhabad, Firozabad, Etah, Kannauj, Bulandsaher and Badayun. “However, it is still early to comment on what intensity it would be,” they added.
The BJP is hopeful of a minimal impact of Kalyan on these seats given that it has nothing to lose except for Bulandsaher, which he represents in the present Lok Sabha. Even in Bulandsaher’s Dibai assembly segment, the constituency having more than 1.5 lakh Lodh voters that Kalyan has represented more than half-a-dozen times, his son faced defeat at the hands of a BSP candidate.
“Kalyan could not ensure the victory of his son from a Lodh-dominated assembly constituency that he represented for so many years. He is surely turning out to be a lost force,” BJP leaders claimed.
Party’s national general secretary Arun Jaitley told reporters it is always painful if somebody leaves the party but hoped that Kalyan’s exit would have less impact on BJP’s poll fortunes. “He was not attending the party’s meeting after 2007 assembly elections. He was reluctant to discuss issues related to party’s preparedness for elections in UP,” Jaitley maintained.
The BJP categorically denied Kalyan’s claim that he was insulted and humiliated in the party. “He got things that many BJP leaders have never got after deserting the party and then returning. He would remain a respectable person for us but the decision to quit BJP is his own,” party’s national spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
The BJP recollected: Kalyan was allowed to lead the party in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls; BJP president Rajnath Singh was kept out of UP in the parliamentary elections on his request; he was projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate in the 2007 assembly elections even after a lacklustre performance in 2004; tickets were distributed according to his wishes, and one of his close associates Kusum Rai was sent to the Rajya Sabha a month back
BJP sources pointed out the party had offered to nominate Kalyan’s son Rajbir to the Upper House when it was selecting candidates a month back but the former UP CM preferred Kusum Rai to his son.
Interestingly, Kusum was the first close aide of Kalyan to have distanced herself from him after he decided to work in tandem with the Samajwadi Party. “I shall remain in the party, loyal to its leadership and policies,” she reiterated. Kusum is the same woman for whom Kalyan virtually held the party to ransom and got a Rajya Sabha ticket for her.
At 77, Kalyan, undoubtedly, faces the biggest challenge of his political career in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Old Guards of 'Young India'
They have never believed in hanging up their boots. The ‘old guards’ of politics are all out to stamp their authority in ‘Young India’. If some say it’s to retain their lost glory, others attribute it to their “over ambitiousness”.
With former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat creating a political storm of sorts by claiming that the issue of picking up NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate was still wide open, the limelight has yet again shifted to the country’s political veterans - all asking for their pound of flesh.
From BJP’s Kalyan Singh to Congress’ K Karunakaran; from National Conference’ Farooq Abdullah to Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Deve Gowda, each one of them has his own different reason to seek a place under the political arc lights. Interestingly though, all these veterans have a striking commonness: They all have been Chief Ministers, and they are all on the wrong side (or right side) of 70. If Shekhawat is aged 85, then Karunakaran is 90; if Kalyan is aged 77, then Farooq is 73.
Still, the most amazing story has been the “awakening” of Shekhawat. The man, who started as a sub-inspector with Rajasthan Police and gradually rose to become the Vice President of the country, is now waging a war against the party that he nursed all these years.
Some in the BJP question the timing Shekhawat chose to launch a tirade against the party. His “outbursts” against former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and “expression of interest” to contest the Lok Sabha elections have come at a time when the Central leadership was struggling with several internal conflicts.
It is now common knowledge that Shekhawat believes he was “consciously” sidelined by his colleagues in the party to end the competition for the top job - Prime Ministership.
It was perhaps this feeling that agitated Shekhawat when BJP president Rajnath Singh rebuffed him saying those who have taken a dip in the Ganga do not think about taking bath in a well. “I entered politics when Rajnath was not even born,” Shekhawat retorted, and strongly at that.
Shekhawat is, undoubtedly, much elder to most of the active BJP leaders. Still his call failed to evoke much response. His proposed campaign against corruption (that he claims was rampant during last BJP government in Rajasthan) has apparently more to do with personal rivalries with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. She had stopped listening to the Rajput veteran from Rajasthan.
“Will he led a similar campaign against his friends outside the BJP? Many of those who have been in the good books of Shekhawat are accused of swindling public money. Why is he not speaking against them?” A BJP office bearer wonders, echoing the prevailing subdued feelings within a section of the party.
“There has also been a dark side to Shekhawat’s politics. It has revolved around caste considerations. Shekhawat’s biggest strength had been his friends (most of them were from his caste) outside the BJP. They are the one who are understood to have convinced Shekhawat to contest the Presidential election in 2007 despite little chance of winning the race,” BJP sources said.
Shekhawat has mostly relied on his friends outside. Even this time around he is enjoying more support from outside than from within the BJP. The Nationalist Congress Party was quick to welcome his decision to contest elections and so was the Samajwadi Party. From within the NDA stable, Shekhawat’s call found an instant support from the Janata Dal (United) quarters. With Thakurs from outside the BJP thronging his sprawling bungalow on Aurangzeb Road of Lutyens’ Delhi, Shekhawat is surely pinning hopes on non-BJP leaders to take up his cause.
It was perhaps for this reason, a BJP insider said, that Rajnath had no option but to side with Advani when Shekhawat challenged the NDA’s decision to anoint him as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the alliance. Perhaps, this was also to dispel the impression that Shekhawat’s “misadventure” had Rajnath’s support.
Shekhawat apart, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh too is now giving the BJP a serious headache. Singh, who is a serving vice president of the BJP, has been at odds with the party’s central leaders, many of whom are much junior to him, for reclaiming the same status he enjoyed a couple of years ago.
But for Kalyan, dubbed as a “sulking soul” always asking for “something more”, his biggest problem is Rajnath Singh, his competitor from Uttar Pradesh, who rose to become the national president of the party even after starting as his junior colleague in the state.
Speculations have been rife that Kalyan was hobnobbing with many rebel leaders of the BJP and with his friends in the Samajwadi Party to deal a severe blow to his party in case it decided to tie up with former union minister Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal against his wishes.
Then, there is a common thread uniting JD (S) chief HD Deve Gowda and National Conference mentor Farooq Abdullah. The veterans from the South and North of Vindhyas have refused to call it a day even after passing on the baton to their sons.
Farooq Abdullah recently made way for his son Omar Abdullah, but not before expressing his own ambitions of becoming the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. No doubt, Farooq was the Chief Ministerial candidate of his party before elections, he, however, had to give in to the pressure from within the party and his own family to allow his son to take over.
Deve Gowda was not left with much to do with Karnataka politics after his son HD Kumaraswamy started calling the shots in the party after becoming the Chief Minister of the BJP-JD (S) dispensation. Kumaraswamy is now assigned with the responsibility of rebuilding the party in Karnataka, the state that BJP snatched from the Congress and the JD (S). But he continues to harbour the dreams of a Third Front and a major role in the central politics.
With “son rise” in the JD (S) and the NC - Omar Abdullah as J&K Chief Minister and HD Kumaraswamy in full control of the party in Karnataka - Farooq and Deve Gowda have found reasons to prepare for a fresh innings at the Centre.
Farooq has decided to take charge of the National Conference that will tie up with the Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Deve Gowda, who suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP in last year’s assembly elections, has reasons to rejoice with the results of the by-poll for over half-a-dozen seats, which proved he is still a force to reckon with in the southern State. Congress would surely like Deve Gowda to be on its side.
But the Grand Old party of India has its own problem, further down South. Former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Congressman K Karunakaran, ‘leader’ to his supporters, has been giving sleepless nights to his party leaders ever since the Congress went ahead with making AK Antony as the Chief Minister. His antics of leaving the party to form the Democratic Indira Congress, only to merge it later with NCP and then leave it to rejoin the Congress, have left the Congress perplexed. It can now never hazard a guess when it comes to the Kerala veteran. But at the same time it also cannot do away with him.
Their age notwithstanding, the grand old men of Indian politics continue to register their presence in the billion-strong nation, over 65 per cent of which is below 35 years of age and half of it below 25 years. Its time for the voters to SPEAK OUT
With former vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat creating a political storm of sorts by claiming that the issue of picking up NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate was still wide open, the limelight has yet again shifted to the country’s political veterans - all asking for their pound of flesh.
From BJP’s Kalyan Singh to Congress’ K Karunakaran; from National Conference’ Farooq Abdullah to Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Deve Gowda, each one of them has his own different reason to seek a place under the political arc lights. Interestingly though, all these veterans have a striking commonness: They all have been Chief Ministers, and they are all on the wrong side (or right side) of 70. If Shekhawat is aged 85, then Karunakaran is 90; if Kalyan is aged 77, then Farooq is 73.
Still, the most amazing story has been the “awakening” of Shekhawat. The man, who started as a sub-inspector with Rajasthan Police and gradually rose to become the Vice President of the country, is now waging a war against the party that he nursed all these years.
Some in the BJP question the timing Shekhawat chose to launch a tirade against the party. His “outbursts” against former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje and “expression of interest” to contest the Lok Sabha elections have come at a time when the Central leadership was struggling with several internal conflicts.
It is now common knowledge that Shekhawat believes he was “consciously” sidelined by his colleagues in the party to end the competition for the top job - Prime Ministership.
It was perhaps this feeling that agitated Shekhawat when BJP president Rajnath Singh rebuffed him saying those who have taken a dip in the Ganga do not think about taking bath in a well. “I entered politics when Rajnath was not even born,” Shekhawat retorted, and strongly at that.
Shekhawat is, undoubtedly, much elder to most of the active BJP leaders. Still his call failed to evoke much response. His proposed campaign against corruption (that he claims was rampant during last BJP government in Rajasthan) has apparently more to do with personal rivalries with Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. She had stopped listening to the Rajput veteran from Rajasthan.
“Will he led a similar campaign against his friends outside the BJP? Many of those who have been in the good books of Shekhawat are accused of swindling public money. Why is he not speaking against them?” A BJP office bearer wonders, echoing the prevailing subdued feelings within a section of the party.
“There has also been a dark side to Shekhawat’s politics. It has revolved around caste considerations. Shekhawat’s biggest strength had been his friends (most of them were from his caste) outside the BJP. They are the one who are understood to have convinced Shekhawat to contest the Presidential election in 2007 despite little chance of winning the race,” BJP sources said.
Shekhawat has mostly relied on his friends outside. Even this time around he is enjoying more support from outside than from within the BJP. The Nationalist Congress Party was quick to welcome his decision to contest elections and so was the Samajwadi Party. From within the NDA stable, Shekhawat’s call found an instant support from the Janata Dal (United) quarters. With Thakurs from outside the BJP thronging his sprawling bungalow on Aurangzeb Road of Lutyens’ Delhi, Shekhawat is surely pinning hopes on non-BJP leaders to take up his cause.
It was perhaps for this reason, a BJP insider said, that Rajnath had no option but to side with Advani when Shekhawat challenged the NDA’s decision to anoint him as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the alliance. Perhaps, this was also to dispel the impression that Shekhawat’s “misadventure” had Rajnath’s support.
Shekhawat apart, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh too is now giving the BJP a serious headache. Singh, who is a serving vice president of the BJP, has been at odds with the party’s central leaders, many of whom are much junior to him, for reclaiming the same status he enjoyed a couple of years ago.
But for Kalyan, dubbed as a “sulking soul” always asking for “something more”, his biggest problem is Rajnath Singh, his competitor from Uttar Pradesh, who rose to become the national president of the party even after starting as his junior colleague in the state.
Speculations have been rife that Kalyan was hobnobbing with many rebel leaders of the BJP and with his friends in the Samajwadi Party to deal a severe blow to his party in case it decided to tie up with former union minister Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal against his wishes.
Then, there is a common thread uniting JD (S) chief HD Deve Gowda and National Conference mentor Farooq Abdullah. The veterans from the South and North of Vindhyas have refused to call it a day even after passing on the baton to their sons.
Farooq Abdullah recently made way for his son Omar Abdullah, but not before expressing his own ambitions of becoming the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. No doubt, Farooq was the Chief Ministerial candidate of his party before elections, he, however, had to give in to the pressure from within the party and his own family to allow his son to take over.
Deve Gowda was not left with much to do with Karnataka politics after his son HD Kumaraswamy started calling the shots in the party after becoming the Chief Minister of the BJP-JD (S) dispensation. Kumaraswamy is now assigned with the responsibility of rebuilding the party in Karnataka, the state that BJP snatched from the Congress and the JD (S). But he continues to harbour the dreams of a Third Front and a major role in the central politics.
With “son rise” in the JD (S) and the NC - Omar Abdullah as J&K Chief Minister and HD Kumaraswamy in full control of the party in Karnataka - Farooq and Deve Gowda have found reasons to prepare for a fresh innings at the Centre.
Farooq has decided to take charge of the National Conference that will tie up with the Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Deve Gowda, who suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the BJP in last year’s assembly elections, has reasons to rejoice with the results of the by-poll for over half-a-dozen seats, which proved he is still a force to reckon with in the southern State. Congress would surely like Deve Gowda to be on its side.
But the Grand Old party of India has its own problem, further down South. Former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Congressman K Karunakaran, ‘leader’ to his supporters, has been giving sleepless nights to his party leaders ever since the Congress went ahead with making AK Antony as the Chief Minister. His antics of leaving the party to form the Democratic Indira Congress, only to merge it later with NCP and then leave it to rejoin the Congress, have left the Congress perplexed. It can now never hazard a guess when it comes to the Kerala veteran. But at the same time it also cannot do away with him.
Their age notwithstanding, the grand old men of Indian politics continue to register their presence in the billion-strong nation, over 65 per cent of which is below 35 years of age and half of it below 25 years. Its time for the voters to SPEAK OUT
where are the jobs?
Last night, I had a call from the ‘latest victim’ of global recession’s impact on Indian media. My panicked friend is desperately searching for a job because the worth many million USD newspaper company for which he worked for over a decade is no more “capable” of paying him the “peanuts” that this journalists had been getting for long. I am now looking for a suitable rehabilitation for my friend when every door is shut and every resume is going into the dustbin. We are the flag bearers of the same media that created a hue and cry of sorts when Jet Airways and many other private airlines decided to cut down on their losses by taking the retrenchment route. Airline can’t kick out their employees; media houses can, of course. After all there is no one who will speak out in the favour of victims. All those who drew some kind of a mileage out of the outrage against airlines’ decision have suddenly developed cold feet when “pillars of the fourth estate” are collapsing. It should be of no surprise if many more journalist friends of ours are found searching for jobs in coming days. Choice is yours. Prepare for the worse to knock at your door or SPEAK OUT.
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