Mayawati’s tie-up with Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh is a message for Congress
Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party has formed an alliance with former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s party for the Chhattisgarh assembly elections later this year, forcing a triangular contest for the first time in the history of the tribal state.
Mayawati’s decision is seen as a message to the Congress, which has been in talks with the BSP for a tie-up in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, that it had options other than the Congress if it was not given a respectable number of seats to contest.
It is a point that Mayawati underlined on Thursday as well when she counted the respectable number of seats for the BSP as one of the reasons why she had teamed up with Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress Chhattisgarh.
According to the seat sharing formula agreed by the two leaders, the BSP will field 35 candidates and Ajit Jogi’s party, the remaining 55 seats.
The BSP’s talks with the Congress had fallen through in Chhattisgarh reportedly because the Congress was unwilling to concede more than seven to nine seats. Chhattisgarh assembly has 90 seats.
At a briefing to announce her brand-new alliance, Mayawati named Ajit Jogi as the coalition’s presumptive chief minister.
For Chhattisgarh that has seen a bi-polar fight between the BJP and the Congress and governments are decided by wafer-thin margins, Mayawati’s decision to force a triangular contest is seen as a setback for the Congress.
In the last assembly election, the difference between the votes polled by the BJP and the Congress was less than 98,000 votes.
The BSP fielded candidates in all 90 assembly segments in 2013, won 1 seat and polled 558,000 votes with a share of 4.4%.
But there were 12 seats where its candidates polled more than 10 per cent vote share. In five of these, they had polled over 20 per cent.
Jogi has been trying to turn the Chhattisgarh polls into a triangular fight, but his party is an untested entity in the state. The former Congress veteran founded his party in 2016 along with his son after being expelled from the Congress.
The new alliance is also seen as part of Mayawati’s 2019 plan where she wants to expand her party’s reach beyond Uttar Pradesh. She already has an alliance with Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka and Indian National Lok Dal in Haryana.
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
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“Full prepared..going to win,” Congress MP KC Venugopal ahead of Kerala polls
EC not functioning as a neutral institution: Venugopal
Congress MP K. C. Venugopal on Monday raised concerns over the election schedule announced by the Election Commission of India for the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, questioning the timing of the poll dates and alleging that the schedule leaves limited time for campaigning.
Speaking to news agency ANI in Delhi after the poll panel announced elections in five states and Union Territories, Venugopal said that the Congress and the United Democratic Front (UDF) are fully prepared for the elections and confident of victory. At the same time, he questioned the pattern of dates announced by the Election Commission.
“We are fully prepared, we are going to win the elections... You can see how the Election Commission has set the dates. The first phase of elections is on the 9th, nominations are due until the 23rd, scrutiny is on the 24th, nominations can be withdrawn until the 26th, and after that, there are 11 days for campaigning,” he said.
“As for Kerala, there is Easter and Good Friday in the first week...The Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier... The counting date is on May 4th, so what was the point of holding elections in Kerala so early? What is their intention behind holding elections on the same day in Kerala, Puducherry, and Assam?... We are confident that we will win, but the people of the country are seeing the biased attitude of the Election Commission...,” he added.
He further stated that his party was ready for elections irrespective of the dates announced by the poll body.
“We are going to win the election. India's strategy has been set up. And we are all ready for winning this election. But one thing as far as declaring election, even though they are giving only for five days, we are going to win the election. We have no problem,” he said.
Detailing the poll schedule while questioning the time available for campaigning, he stated, “but you can see the pattern of date which the election commission announced. Yesterday they declared election, and today they notified us. The first phase of election on April 9th, filing of nomination will be over on the 23rd of this month, 24th scrutiny, 26th withdrawal of nomination. After 26, four plus seven, 11 days campaign.”
“As far as Kerala is concerned, April first week is a holy week. The holiday week means, Good Friday is there. Nobody will do anything on Good Friday. Easter is the big festival. These festivals are natural, you have to see that. Among the 11 days, working days, two, three days will go for holidays. Then hardly seven, eight days for campaigning in this election for candidates,” the Congress MP questioned.
The Congress leader said the Election Commission could have announced the dates earlier if there was a need for an early election schedule.
Questioning the urgency behind placing Kerala in the first phase of polling, he added that the counting date is much later.
“Which is the date of counting? Fourth May. Then what is the urgency of putting Kerala in the first phase without giving sufficient time for candidates? And putting Kerala, Puducherry, Assam together, what is the intention behind that?” Venugopal questioned.
He also alleged that the Election Commission was not functioning as a neutral institution.
“The Election commission is completely losing that capacity as a neutral player. You can see 14 of our prime minister's programs over and on the 15th they announce the election, 16th notification comes,” he said.
Venugopal further stated that such tactics would not affect the Congress’ prospects in the election.
“They think that this type of techniques and tactics, because of these techniques and tactics, UDF is going to lose, and Congress is going to lose. This is their complete dream only. This is not going to happen. We are very much confident at any cost, whether they are not giving any time also, we are going to win the election,” he said.
“But the people of India are watching this. The tricks of the election commission. To restrict the campaign, people of India are watching. This I want to bring into the notice of the nation. That's all,” Venugopal said.
The Election Commission of India on Sunday announced the schedule for the Kerala Assembly election. Polling in the state will be held in a single phase on April 9 while the counting of votes is scheduled to take place on May 4.
