Diversity in politics

 Of five states going to the polls beginning from February 10 in Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Punjab and UP the opinion polls suggest a mixed bag for the BJP and the Congress. As per the survey of electoral trends in the five states that are set to go polls, the BJP is likely to retain UP despite a resurgent Samajwadi Party posing a strong challenge. The Congress is nowhere in the reckoning in UP despite all the hot air being blown by Priyanka Vadra. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the Congress won just seven seats and 5 percent votes- and that too with the support of the Samajwadi Party. This time, the SP has closed all doors for any tie up with the Congress after the disastrous 2017 alliance. No other party wants to have a tie up with the Congress in UP. Priyanka Vadra is trying to grab the attention of the voter with a flurry of populist announcements. She pledged to reserve 40 percent seats for women in ticket distribution for UP elections. This means 161 out of 403 seats in the state. Priyanka’s 40 per cent party tickets to women is neither going to empower women in general, nor is the Congress going to reap benefits out of it. If the Congress were serious about the needs of women, farmers and poor, then it would have made a similar declaration in the remaining states where they are electorally in a good position. The Congress has no organisation worth the name and is only visible at election rallies by its star Gandhi star campaigners. While the BJP is contesting the upcoming polls under Yogi Adityanath, SP under Akhilesh Yadav, and BSP under Mayawati, the Congress has nobody. Whenever asked about whether she’ll be contesting the UP elections, Priyanka ducks the question. Goa and Uttarakhand are states where the Congress may have some chances of beating the BJP. In Goa the BJP could well become the single largest party as the opposition is hopelessly divided. Though the Congress has better chance of upsetting the BJP in Goa, yet its refusal for a pre-poll understanding with the AAP and TMC is only dividing the opposition votes that is advantageous to the BJP . Even in Punjab the AAP is training its guns at the Congress to the benefit of the BJP. However, the blame should go to the Congress high command or the Gandhi siblings for the humiliating its own chief minister Capt.Amarinder. Today Punjab Congress is a divided house between supporters of chief minister Channi and state unit chief Navjyot Singh Siddhu. In Uttarakhand, the Congress has significantly improved its prospects in the latest poll survey over the previous one. The improvement is obviously due to the party veteran Harish Rawat being made the face of the campaign. In Manipur, unless the Congress tightens its grip over its rebellious MLAs and party functionaries, it may end up second to the ruling BJP. Even if Congress becomes the single largest party but short of majority like in 2017, the BJP can still hijack the outcome. In all five states, though BJP’s popularity is not improving, yet on the other hand, in the absence of an able leader from the Congress, the opposition parties will continue to fight each other while fighting the BJP.