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Thursday, July 17, 2008
Cong edgy as D-day nears
Suddenly, the race is looking much closer than it looked at the beginning. Congress managers, kept on the edge by would-be allies and independent MPs playing hardball, were looking over their shoulders on Wednesday as the rival Left-BSP camp got a boost with BJP mounting an operation to topple the Manmohan Singh government.
The government’s negotiators maintained UPA was ahead in the numbers game and had been successful in rounding up some smaller partners and stemming efforts to poach its MPs. But they conceded getting home and dry remained critically dependent on the fate of negotiations with JMM, RLD, JD(S) and National Conference, besides a clutch of independent MPs. Some of these outfits, like RLD and NC, are inclined to support the government, but the deals are yet to be sealed. And in a fast-changing scenario, there could be surprises for both sides.
Congress had a taste of fickle pledges when Harish Nagpal, Independent MP from Amroha on whom it was counting, crossed over to the opposition. The July 22 vote was always going to be tight, but Congress is feeling the heat as the D-day draws closer even as the party was satisfied that UPA partners such as the onemember Majlis-e-Ittehad-al-Musalmeen and IUML— which had appeared to waver over the nuclear deal with the ‘anti-Muslim’ US— had come around.
But the UPA lead player was being given a tough time by another constituent, five-member Jharkhand Mukti Morcha whose Shibu (Guruji) Soren has not just upped the ante, but also opened parallel lines with NDA.
The hurdle that Congress has run into is that with the term of the Lok Sabha nearing its end, MPs are inclined to see how they stand at the hustings and whether switching parties would help their prospects. Take the case of Ladakh MP, Thupstan Chhewang. He is aligned with the Congress, but is yet to be secured and is scheduled to meet L K Advani after some quiet groundwork by BJP Jammu leaders.
Congress managers conceded Chhewang would not reveal his hand before Friday evening. Ditto for LS member from
Outer Manipur, Mani Charenamei, who is yet to convert his assurance into a pledge of support. While Kokrajhar MP, S Bwiswmuthiary is on the UPA chart, this can hardly succour managers who have come to appreciate the value of every member after the dramatic one-vote defeat of the Vajpayee government in 1999. Congress’s rebel MP, Kuldeep Bishnoi, has already been bagged by the BJP.
With the BJP, which had lagged CPM and BSP in prowling for potential allies, joining the hunt, UPA managers may be forced to keep an eye on partners like PMK.
The government’s negotiators maintained UPA was ahead in the numbers game and had been successful in rounding up some smaller partners and stemming efforts to poach its MPs. But they conceded getting home and dry remained critically dependent on the fate of negotiations with JMM, RLD, JD(S) and National Conference, besides a clutch of independent MPs. Some of these outfits, like RLD and NC, are inclined to support the government, but the deals are yet to be sealed. And in a fast-changing scenario, there could be surprises for both sides.
Congress had a taste of fickle pledges when Harish Nagpal, Independent MP from Amroha on whom it was counting, crossed over to the opposition. The July 22 vote was always going to be tight, but Congress is feeling the heat as the D-day draws closer even as the party was satisfied that UPA partners such as the onemember Majlis-e-Ittehad-al-Musalmeen and IUML— which had appeared to waver over the nuclear deal with the ‘anti-Muslim’ US— had come around.
But the UPA lead player was being given a tough time by another constituent, five-member Jharkhand Mukti Morcha whose Shibu (Guruji) Soren has not just upped the ante, but also opened parallel lines with NDA.
The hurdle that Congress has run into is that with the term of the Lok Sabha nearing its end, MPs are inclined to see how they stand at the hustings and whether switching parties would help their prospects. Take the case of Ladakh MP, Thupstan Chhewang. He is aligned with the Congress, but is yet to be secured and is scheduled to meet L K Advani after some quiet groundwork by BJP Jammu leaders.
Congress managers conceded Chhewang would not reveal his hand before Friday evening. Ditto for LS member from
Outer Manipur, Mani Charenamei, who is yet to convert his assurance into a pledge of support. While Kokrajhar MP, S Bwiswmuthiary is on the UPA chart, this can hardly succour managers who have come to appreciate the value of every member after the dramatic one-vote defeat of the Vajpayee government in 1999. Congress’s rebel MP, Kuldeep Bishnoi, has already been bagged by the BJP.
With the BJP, which had lagged CPM and BSP in prowling for potential allies, joining the hunt, UPA managers may be forced to keep an eye on partners like PMK.
Labels: Indian Politics
# posted by gopi @ 8:10 AM 
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