Anita Katyal | Phoolka Joins BJP, Could Be CM Face; J&K Cong Plagued By Feuds, Aloof NC

The Modi government’s decision to go ahead with the passage of the Delimitation Bill in the coming special session of Parliament, has come in for strong criticism from the Opposition parties which have charged that the increase in the number of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats envisaged in the proposed legislation will benefit the northern states while those in the south will be at a distinct disadvantage. Though this “north vs south” narrative will drive its public campaign in the coming weeks, it is the redrawing of the constituencies which is a real worry for the Opposition as it is at a loss about how it should deal with this matter. Private conversations with Opposition leaders reveal that it fears the delimitation exercise will, at the BJP’s prodding, deliberately alter the demography of the constituencies with the clear intention of helping the ruling party. Here, the Opposition cites the example of Assam where chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma changed the boundaries of Muslim-dominated seats or those known to be Congress strongholds. Since this is an exhaustive and bureaucratic exercise, the Opposition parties believe it will be difficult for them to monitor and challenge the process. In other words, tough times ahead for the Opposition as the BJP is always a step ahead.

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has reason to worry after its Datia legislator Rajendra Bharti was hurriedly disqualified a day after he was sentenced to three years imprisonment in an old bank fraud case. The Congress state unit is convinced that Mr Bharti’s disqualification is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s larger game plan with an eye on the coming Rajya Sabha election. The terms of Congress Rajya Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh — Digvijaya Singh and Vivek Tankha — end in June. With a strength of 66 members in the Assembly, the Congress is in a position to win one seat. But Mr Bharti’s disqualification has led the Congress to believe the BJP is working on its dissatisfied MLAs to either absent themselves on voting day or deliberately invalidate their votes to help it win an extra seat. Given the tense situation, the Congress may well have to move its legislators to a resort closer to the election.

Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014, it has been making a concerted effort to woo the Sikh community since it has failed to make any headway in Punjab on its own. While BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have been regularly paying obeisance at various gurdwaras, prominent Sikhs are being drafted by the party. Senior advocate and human rights activist H.S. Phoolka, who was previously with the Aam Aadmi Party, joined the BJP last week. His induction immediately gave rise to speculation that Mr Phoolka could be projected as the BJP’s chief ministerial face in next year’s Assembly polls. Though several Sikh leaders have joined the BJP in recent months, Mr Phoolka is the most prominent among them. He is well-known for helping victims of the 1984 anti-Sikhs riots by doggedly pursuing their legal cases in courts. The BJP hopes Mr Phoolka’s credibility and standing in his community can help bridge its trust deficit with the Sikhs who believe the saffron party undermines their religious identity by projecting them as members of the Hindu fold.

The Congress unit in Jammu and Kashmir is battling it out on two fronts. Not only is the local unit deeply divided, the party’s relationship with its alliance partner National Conference is far from cordial. Embittered Congress leaders complain that they are not taken seriously by chief minister Omar Abdullah and that there is no proper consultation with them on important matters. The appointment of law officers, including additional and deputy advocate generals, is the latest cause of tension between the alliance partners as the names suggested by the Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hamid Karra were rejected. This has further demoralised the Congress cadre which is convinced that the bitter infighting in its ranks has weakened the party to such an extent that it is unable to assert itself. While Mr Karra has been in the firing line for some time now, Congress leaders also blame the AICC in-charge Syed Nasser Hussain for not doing enough to unite the party or press for coordination with the National Conference.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT cell is known to respond with alacrity each time the Congress attacks the party or its leaders. And yet it has maintained a studied silence when Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera accused Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife Riniki Bhuyan Sharma of holding three foreign passports. It would be expected that the BJP and its ministers would rush to defend Mr Sarma who is a favourite as he is credited with expanding the party’s footprint in the Northeast. And yet there has been radio silence from the BJP. Party spokespersons have been responding to questions from media-persons on the subject but no strong defence has been forthcoming. The speculation is that the documents were possibly provided by a BJP insider for Mr Sarma has made himself unpopular with the party’s state leaders following the en masse recruitment of Congress leaders.