By
Sushil Kutty
The
‘mahagathbandhan’ is in place. There is also the ‘gathbandhan’. And don’t
forget the ‘federal front’. The first and third overlap, they say. The question
then is ‘What now?’ Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati, if one is ambition, the other
is Mayavi. The day Brigade Ground in Kolkata paraded opposition to Narendra
Modi, what did not go amiss was who among the leaders of the opposition parties
is top-gun, if using the term ‘PM Face’ is politically incorrect in this
context.
Why
are opposition parties unable to decide on a ‘PM Face’? Will Mayawati, Mamata
and Rahul Gandhi sit down and announce the MGB’s ‘PM Face’? The NDA has Modi.
What does MGB have? The MGB should bother about the perception coalescing in
the voter’s mind: The ‘aam’ voter is talking of spreading a “durry” on the
Brigade Ground stage to seat the ambitions of all opposition leaders who
harbour the desire to replace Narendra Modi.
MGB
parties should not forget that they have to oust Modi from the voters’ mind to
win. And they might do that if they come clean on who will be Prime Minister
from MGB. A clear choice will cut though the floss in the voters’ mind. Surely,
that will make it ‘presidential’, but let’s be fair; that is what the voters
believe it is – Presidential! General elections 2019, believe it or not, is
between two wannabe prime ministers. NDA has advantage. The voter sees an MGB
divided.
Mayawati
thinks 38 BSP Members of Parliament will make her PM; Mamata Banerjee believes
30-40 seats will be enough to stick a knife in Mayawati’s fantasy. The way
Mamata covered the stage on Brigade Ground left no doubts. She was compere as
well as ‘Candidate PM’. Every opposition leader and Shatrughan Sinha thought
so. At presser post-show of strength on stage, Mamata called the questions and
it was clear she was one with the crest.
But
why not declare that Mamata is ‘PM Face’ of MGB? Mayawati lost a chance. She
could have called all opposition parties to Lucknow and announced SP-BSP
gathbandhan in UP, urging the rest of the regional parties in the MGB to stitch
similar gathbandhans in their own bailiwicks, so that the contest in each seat
becomes bipolar and voters have a clear choice: BJP nominee versus MGB
contestant. The original idea was that; but does the sentiment still hold?
If
BSP is given a seat in Karnataka or Chhattisgarh by MGB, will there be a
one-on-one BJP-MGB contest? Will Congress votes in that constituency transfer
to BSP candidate? It’s fait accompli that Congress will contest against
Trinamool in West Bengal. Where does that leave the MGB? Is the Congress in the
MGB, is there an MGB or is it just talk and media muffling?
And
there is a growing tribe of voters who NOTAed in MP, Chhattisgarh and
Rajasthan. A two-candidate election will not NOTA. Every constituency should
have a one-on-one contest for the electorate to not NOTA. The option NOTA is
evidence of disapproval, despair and disgust at the whole electoral process.
The only clear choice before the electorate this general elections is Narendra
Modi.
The
only opposition leader who said he wants to be Prime Minister is Rahul Gandhi.
So far neither Mayawati nor Mamata Banerjee has said ‘Bollocks’ to Rahul. But
their actions speaks volumes of what they think of “Prime Minister Rahul
Gandhi”. The only politician who took the name of Rahul Gandhi at Brigade
Ground Kolkata was Shatrughan Sinha and he is Shotgun villain in the BJP.
Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie do not count. They rebelled for not being made
ministers.
Voters
may have whoever in mind but constituents of the so-called MGB are talking of
the return of coalition government, debating UPA-1 and UPA-2, discussing
Vajpayee’s coalition government and the ones of Devegowda and IK Gujral. The
conclusion arrived was that only a coalition government led by a national party
with more seats than the rest in the coalition stands the test and runs the
gamut, Devegowda and Gujral and Chandrashekhar and Charan Singh were not in
such a class in school.
But
what is the voter asking, does the electorate fancy a coalition government? The
majority of the electorate has identified regional caste-based parties as the
villain. The ‘youth-voter’ is shedding the caste tag. It happened in 2014 and
in 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. The opposition while going gaga on
the MGB should not forget that the BJP was single-largest party in the
Karnataka elections and snapping at Congress heals in terms of voter share in
MP and Rajasthan.
Also,
national issues decide outcome in general elections, not anti-incumbency in
three states. The MGB thinks 31% versus 69% votes in 2014 will repeat in 2019
and the 69% will vote MGB. Ha! It should know that voter-turnout in 2014 was
55%, which means 45% of voters sat home and thought NOTA. Only 24% voted for
opposition candidates. Why did 45% not vote? That is the question. It could be
because there wasn’t an opposition prime ministerial candidate in 2014. Who is
MGB’s ‘PM Face’ in 2019 is the most important factor in GE 2019. (IPA Service)
The post Who Is MGB’s PM Face Will Decide GE-2019 appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
