Form of words:
aassembly by-election of Kolkata BHAwooAnipurs are sending out loud signals, with significant implications for national politics. It is not about the victory or defeat of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Even Bharatiya Janata Party leaders are not so blind. They know that there is a huge margin against their candidate in the by-elections.
the signals coming from the bhaswooAnipur is about the growing ambitions of regional parties like the All India Trinamool Congress.TMC) “We will fight in different parts of India. Hobe played in Tripura, Hobe played in Assam, Hobe played in Goa, Hobe played in UP…BJP should know that a party has finally come to fight them,” Banerjee said During the election campaign in Alipore on September 22.
four days later, on Sunday, His nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee echoed In another part of Bhawanipur constituency, he said, “Be ready… We are ready to take our political fight out of Bengal.”
They were not talking rhetoric. Trinamool Congress leader backed by Prashant Kishor’s Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), Already camping in Assam, Goa and Tripura. The party intends to contest elections in Uttar Pradesh Elections, very. The TMC on Monday dealt a major blow to the Congress, which is likely to be a Gandhi family loyalist, to former Goa CM Goa Luizinho Faleiro. to join Mamta’s party
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already sounded the bugle in Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Goa, promising various freebies. In Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena (SS) are alliance partners of the Congress., But both are trying to expand their footprints at the latter’s expense. Even the CPI(M) is embracing Congress defectors in Kerala. in Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has given a small blow to the Congress. refute This is a Rajya Sabha seat, in return for which he promised that the Congress would agree to contest only 25 seats in the last aAssembly elections. NS Congress Now it is talking about getting a raw deal from DMK in the local body elections in the state. Neither the Samajwadi Party (SP) nor the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has anything to do with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
This This is when Sonia Gandhi is trying to form a front of like-minded parties to take on the BJP. Given the inherent contradictions in such a system, marked by conflicting ambitions, the idea of opposition unity was always illusory. But already pushed to the political margins in most of India, the GOP or Yesmargin heyld PArtie has been trying this as a survival strategy for so long Since unable to beat it NS Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) run by Narendra Modi. Sonia Gandhi has in some sense tried to replicate the work done by her mother-in-law late Indira Gandhi. NS 1971 Elections in Tamil Nadu. To secure his position at the Centre, he had contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the DMK, but completely surrendered the field to his Dravidian partner in the assembly elections. It was the death knell for the Congress in the southern state. Sonia Gandhi, and later Rahul Gandhi, To remain at the center, it tried a similar-though-modified formula, forming alliances with the party’s main rivals in several states. This led to the further downfall of the Congress, which was struggling to recover from the Mandal-Kamandal political blow.
Anyway, regional parties (Although, technically, some of them are ‘National Party’ with them Aadhaar is limited to one state) no longer inclined to keep Congress afloat. Declaring BJP as your enemy number. 1, They are trying to eat up the vote-share of the Congress in various states, which otherwise would have earned it as the major opposition party. NS TMC Or AAP, for example, will grow in the Northeast or Gujarat or any other state with bipolar politics (like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, et al) only on the ruins of the major opposition party – That is Congress.
Read also: How Nagaland became the first state in India to become opposition-free
What makes Congress the target of regional parties
Firstly, most of these parties – be it TMC, You, NCP, SP, BSP, Telangana Rashtra SamithiNSI (TRS), Or the YSR Congress Party- the core vote bank was different from that of the Congress. today also, They fight for the same vote bank. According to Lokniti-CSDS National Election Study, as quoted by Sanjay Kumar in a Article In Indian ExpressBoth the Congress and regional parties are losing their vote shares in the national elections. In the last seven Lok Sabha elections, the vote share percentage of the Congress has been around the mid-20s, falling slightly below 20 per cent in 2014 and 2019. The decline has been sharper for regional parties. 2019 from the mid-30s in the last five elections. BJP seems to be benefiting at the cost of both.
Together Congress And showing signs of decline, regional parties find this is a good opportunity for them Try to make up for your loss at the expense of Congress. For example, the vote bank of Congress in West Bengal, is divided Middle TMC and BJP. a large part of it Has gone to AAP in Delhi, to TRS in Telangana, and so on. These parties have reasons to try to increase the base base that is left over before the BJP pounces on them.
SecondSome of these regional/national parties no longer need Congress support to take on the BJP on their home turf. – TMC In Bengal, AAP in Delhi, DMK in Tamil Nadu, to name a few. TeaHe must garner Congress votes elsewhere to grow in other states in his attempt to emerge as a national alternative. Thanks to their victory over the BJP on their home turf, these smaller parties are confident of repeating it elsewhere if the Congress goes out of its way in other states. Sushmita Dev, a prominent Congress face in Assam, and Luizinho Faleiro in Goa joined TMC and even former Congressman Pradyot. deburman The conversation with Mamta points to this trend.
third, these little players I have lost faith in the Congress as a party that can hold the fort against the BJP. Therefore, while they themselves cannot expect to remove the saffron party from its dominant position So farThey gain nothing by supporting a battered Congress and keeping it alive Feather Battlefield. A dead Congress may provide them with better opportunities.
fourthRevival of Congress at any point In the same danger as time several of Like the BJP does today. For example, TRS’s K. ChandraHekaro If Congress also gets strength in Telangana, it is better to fight with BJP today than to fight Rao on two fronts. same holds Truth for Mamta Banerjee And Arvind Kejriwal.
Last but not least, regional satraps have little chance of fulfilling their personal ambitions – occupying the coveted post of prime minister – as long as Congress remains a key player in any potential coalition arrangement. Congress begging for survival holds more hope for them, if at all.
The author tweeted at @dksingh73. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Neera Mazumdar)
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