Columns | Indraprastha

2024: Mutual Interest

The BJP has begun to renew contacts and reach out to potential allies and influencers

Virendra Kapoor | 23 Jun, 2023

IT MAY BE EARLY days yet, but from all indications, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) has begun to renew contacts and reach out to potential allies and influencers with an eye on the 2024 parliamentary polls. Despite the loss in Karnataka, all surveys reveal that Modi’s popularity remains undiminished, the nearest contender for the prime ministerial gaddi being some 20 points behind. But post-Karnataka, senior BJP leaders have begun to infuse new energy into the hitherto moribund National Democratic Alliance (NDA). There is every likelihood of the Akalis, one of the oldest allies of the Jana Sangh-BJP who had parted company ostensibly over the controversial farm laws, and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) returning to NDA. Mutual interest prompts the two parties in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, to try and bolster electoral prospects by allying with BJP. For its part, partnering the main opposition parties in the two states where BJP has all along had a thin presence can only add much-needed heft to its fight against the newly resurgent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab and the aggressive and well-entrenched YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh. Even in Maharashtra, a major realignment of forces may be on the cards ahead of the 2024 General Election.

In Bihar, not-so-subtle moves are on to upset Nitish Kumar in his own backyard by weaning away influential leaders from his loose-ruling grouping. The self-appointed sutradhar of opposition unity cuts a sorry figure, desperately trying to coax parties to gather for a powwow in Patna. Not many senior Congress leaders are willing to show up; nor are regional leaders strong enough in their own states likely to respond to Nitish’s cooing calls.

Nitish might fancy himself as a latter-day Jayaprakash Narayan, or JP 2.0, but he has neither the moral stature nor the electoral strength to be anything other than a bit player on the political stage who frittered away his credibility jumping like a trapeze artist from one political camp to another. He should cease making a spectacle of himself. And wait for Congress to play the anchor in any potential move to craft an electoral strategy that, at the minimum, ensures one-on-one contests in the maximum number of seats. It is a huge ask and is unlikely to be realised given the bloated egos of opposition chieftains.

Meanwhile, Modi sparing time for two widely popular TV performers who inject their lectures with meaningful tales from the scriptures cannot be without political significance. As for the main opposition party, its notional head is content fulminating daily against Modi Sarkar without being able to move an inch on constituting his working committee and other organisational posts. Reason: The clearing agents at 10 Janpath haven’t had time to end the agony of the nominee who occupies the once powerful position of Congress president. You do feel sorry for the octogenarian Mallikarjun Kharge, don’t you?

REMEMBER TN SESHAN? The chief election commissioner (CEC) between 1990 and 1996, who did a lot to assert the independence of Nirvachan Sadan, was by all accounts a bully, barking instructions to his juniors while cravenly subservient to his superiors. Well, that impression comes out starkly from his autobiography released posthumously recently. As CEC, he is said to have famously said, “I eat politicians for breakfast.” No denying he succeeded in breaking free from the control of the government when it came to the affairs of the Election Commission. But often, he went overboard—as a result, attracting notoriety and celebrity in equal measure.

A telling episode from his early days in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) highlights Seshan’s mental make-up which informed his conduct all through. As a deputy secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy, he had Vikram Sarabhai as the head while Homi Sethna was the director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Sarabhai did not write his character record (CR). The task fell to Sethna. And the CR read: “He is aggressive, abrasive, and is a bully to those under him.” A bad CR could have ruined Seshan’s career. He challenged it. The minister in charge was none other than Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Asked why Sethna would give him such a stinker, without mincing words, he told her: “Because I am close to Dr Sarabhai and Dr Sethna hates Dr Sarabhai.” Anyway, to cut a long story short, the CR entry was deleted and Seshan went on to rise up the greasy pole of the bureaucratic hierarchy till his friend, Subramanian Swamy, law minister in the Chandra Shekhar government, appointed him CEC. And Seshan, for the first time since Independence, freed the Election Commission from the clutches of the government. Warts and all, his role as CEC cleaned up our electoral process and restored a good measure of transparency.