With the states set for assembly elections such as Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, elections will be held also for 75 Rajya Sabha seats which are expected to fall vacant through the year and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s equations with its allies and other parties will be critical and decisive for the party’s performance in the presidential and vice-presidential elections scheduled to be held this year. President Ram Nath Kovind is set to complete his five year term which is coming to an end in July 2022. The presidential election is scheduled to be held in mid-July 2022 three months after polls to five state assemblies are concluded. While the President is elected by an electoral college comprising MPs and MLAs, Rajya Sabha Members are elected by an electoral college of MLAs of the particular State Assembly.
According to Congress sources UPA may likely to propose the name of NCP Chief Sharad Pawar as a President candidate in a move to pre-empt the BJP and particularly Narendra Modi who can come up with an out of box candidate in the presidential election.
Of the 75 Rajya Sabha seats that will fall vacant this year, 11 are from Uttar Pradesh, 7 are from Punjab, 6 each from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and 4 in Andhra Pradesh. Out of 75 Rajya Sabha seats, 26 are currently held by BJP members. In the Rajya Sabha, where the BJP is the single largest party, it is still short of majority that would reduce the party’s dependence on allies and friendly parties for passage of key and controversial bills and for eliciting support for its candidates for the presidential and vice-presidential elections. In the VP poll, only parliamentarians are entitled to vote.
With Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu set to complete his term by August 2022. The buzz is that Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan is one of the most vocal supporters of the Modi government and a vocal critic of “Islamic fundamentalism”. Khan has backed the abrogation of Article 370. He may be the choice for next Vice President of India. The “think tank ” of BJP is keen on his candidature as due to this, they hope to improve their strength in Kerala and Telangana and want to give message to Muslims that the country is progressing on a path where none can be left behind because of religion, where all get equal opportunity to move ahead and fulfill their dreams. Another name has come for a discussion in the political circle is Rajya Sabha MP Prakash Javadekar and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Harivansh Narayan Singh who is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah but it all depends on the results of upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. At present, the BJP has 97 MPs in the 237 member Upper House. It appears unlikely that the party will reach the halfway mark of 119.
AKHILESH YADAV AND PRIYANKA GANDHI COMPETING TO GRAB BSP BASE IN COMING POLLS
The most vocal , active and influential leader of Uttar Pradesh BSP supremo Mayawati is conspicuous by her absence in the electoral canvassing arena ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Mayawati has deputed her party general secretary and Brahmin face Satish Chandra Mishra to tour the State and hold public rallies with the message of getting her elected as CM of U.P. for the fifth time. Satish Chandra Mishra claimed that Mayawati is very busy in the selection of the candidates for the coming assembly election. According to Mayawati the BSP is a party of the poor and the oppressed. “Unlike other parties, our party is not a party of capitalists and dhannaseths (big businessmen). Along with being a political party, our party is also a movement. And even if we imitate the others, the scarcity of funds could hurt the party during the election,” Ms. Mayawati said. Meanwhile the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the principal opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress are wooing the BSP votes. On 14 November 2021, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited Mayawati in Delhi to offer her condolences to Mayawati on the demise of her mother.
To woo the Valmiki Community, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said in Agra, “When I came to Agra after the death of Arun Valmiki, I wondered what could we do for people belonging to the Valmiki community. You have seen atrocities against the people of the community again and again, whether it is in Hathras or in Agra,” Seeing the inactiveness of Mayawati, Priyanka is pushing his party’s old agenda ‘Congress ka Haath, Pichhdon ke Saath’, hoping that by wooing Dalit and OBC voters, the party can make inroads into politically significant states like Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand Akhilesh Yadav exhorted the Samajwadis and Ambedkarwadis to come together to throw away the Yogi Adityanath government in UP. While Bhim army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan is working hard to fight for the rights of the Dalits and to grab the base of BSP in the coming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP MINISTER OF UTTARKHAND HIRAK SINGH RAWAT IS A DISGRUNTLED LEADER NOW
Over the last few months, Uttarakhand minister Harak Singh Rawat, a Thakur leader from the Garhwal region who first became an MLA in 1991, was looking to leave the BJP. Rawat is considered to have played a big role in the rebellion of nine Congress MLAs in 2016 who switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party, before the assembly polls.. Harak Singh Rawat’s exit from the Congress had hugely contributed to the collapse of Harish Rawat’s government in 2017. The speculation is rife that Harish Rawat appeared to raise the bar for letting former Congress leaders return to the party, demanding that they will have to give a public apology before being considered. However the appeasing and friendly tone between bitter rivals further triggered concerns in the Uttarakhand BJP that there was a possibility that Harak Singh Rawat could head back to the Congress. On the other hand Congress had been witnessing a tug of war between former chief minister Harish Rawat and its All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Uttarakhand, Devender Yadav. The party realises that wooing voters will not be enough to attain a victory in the state this time; it needs to be able to keep its group together. As such, it has taken quick steps to bring the entire state leadership together, ahead of the ticket finalisation process. In order to quickly hide and put an end to the crisis looming in its Uttarakhand unit, the Congress made Rawat the chairman of the campaign committee for the upcoming polls.
ON BJD FOUNDATION DAY, FORMER MP PRASANNA PATASANI EXPRESSES HIS ANGER AGAINST NAVEEN
As the BJD celebrated its Foundation Day, Senior BJD leader and former MP Prasanna Kumar Patasani who was denied a ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Bhubaneswar to accommodate the former Mumbai commissioner of police Arup Patnaik, took the opportunity to remind Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik of his promise to send him to the Rajya Sabha. The CM had apparently made the promise to prevent a possible revolt by Patasani. Arup lost 2019 Lok Sabha election from Bhubaneswar as CM Naveen Patnaik feels that Patasani did not extend his whole hearted support. Patasani once again expressed his desire to be an MP in the Upper House after BJD’s organisational secretary Pranab Prakash Das said, on the occasion of the party’s Foundation Day, that if party president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik promises something, he fulfills it.
CONGRESS TO OPT FOR DOOR TO DOOR CANVASSING IN UTTAR PRADESH POLLS
Due to active surge in COVID-19 cases, the Congress on Wednesday announced that it would not hold any rallies or girls marathon in poll bound Uttar Pradesh and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to refrain from holding large public events in the state. The Congress’ state election committee has also written to Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra to “cancel big rallies in view of the anticipated third Covid wave”. The Congress has decided to go for small gatherings through ‘Nukkad Natak’ and door-to-door campaigns to reach out to the public ahead of the Assembly polls. (IPA Service)