Battle of ballots in nine phases
With the announcement of general elections by Election Commission of India on March 5 in 9 phases between April 7 and May 16, the electioneering reached in full swing. However, candidates for majority of the seats are yet to be declared by both the major parties, the BJP and the Congress, the attempts of changing poll equations by taking new allies by both the NDA and the UPA are also in full sing.
However, efforts of creating Third Front seem to be proving futile as major regional powers like Biju Janata Dal, J Jayalalithaa and Asom Gana Parishad are reluctant to join hands with the ‘power hungry opportunists’ gang’. Both the CPI and CPM broke their month long association with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on seat distribution on March 6. With this the Third Front in Tamil Nadu vanished even before it could take any shape.
Presently, a group of several parties including Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and four Left parties—Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc—is trying to shape the Third Front. But the major hurdle blocking this group to take a final shape is the ambition of PMship among majority of the leaders including Nitish Kumar, J Jayalalithaa, Mulayam Singh Yadav and HD Deve Gowda. This restructures the popular saying ‘Divided we Stand, United we Fall’.
The condition of UPA too is no different. In Bihar, it lost Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP and in Jharkhand the coalition between JMM and Congress is at the verge of saying good bye to each other. In Adhra Pradesh the Congress is facing the worst ever time. Congress secret deal with Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi too is no more a secret. After the AAP victory in Delhi the way both these parties came together and the way all activities of the AAP seem to be defending the scams-ridden Congress, make it clear that the AAP is B team of the Congress. Anna Hazare, the guru of Kejriwal, too has refused to support him and he is now persuading Mamata Bannerjee to form a separate group. Anna is promoting Mamata for the post of Prime Minister. This all shows how many PM candidates are in the third front.
On the other hand the BJP continues to be a formidable force all over the country under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi. There is surely Modi Wave all across the nation, which has been proved even by a recent pollconducted by US based Pew Research Center, according to which 63 percent of Indians think Narendra Modi should lead India’s next government. Even in India all the pre polls surveys are showing BJP ahead. The huge gathering turning in public meetings of Shri Modi are also clear indication of the national mood. The regrouping of NDA has also strengthened the hands of Shri Modi. After Ramvilas Paswan, popular Dalit leader Dr Udit Raj has also joined the saffron party.
