The storm over the AgustaWestland kickback controversy could subside a bit if the Congress retains Assam for the fourth time, giving a jolt to the BJP.
The storm over the AgustaWestland kickback controversy could subside a bit if the Congress retains Assam for the fourth time, giving a jolt to the BJP. The Congress managers are confident of a victory after the polling, predicting that regional parties would come together to check the BJP under the Congress’ leadership. If their feedback is correct, then the Sonia Gandhi-led party has nothing to worry as non BJP parties are going to gain in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Puduc-herry and this will be the third successive defeat for the saffron party after the Delhi and Bihar Assembly polls.
While the Congress managers involved in the crucial Assam battle are giving 46 to 55 seats to the party, however, seniors are staying away from the guessing game, saying the outcome could be a hung Assembly. In such a scenario, a single largest party could manage numbers by either winning smaller parties, independents or engineering splits.
But the results will not be confined to Assam. If the BJP wins the polls, it will be more aggressive in its attack against political opponents and will focus on Uttar Pradesh which is going to the polls early year.
But if it fails to emerge as the single largest party, then it’s current campaign against the Congress’ top leadership on the AgustaWestland kickback controversy could be punctured for the time being.
Regional parties are watching the current blame game between the BJP government and the Congress on the alleged bribe in the Agusta-Westland VVIP chopper deal. Barring the Left, the JD(U) and the BJD and other parties can’t afford to take a firm stand on such issues for obvious reasons. But they can’t remain silent on it as well if the BJP tries to make inroads into their strongholds.
The Congress party has not won a single election on its own after a debacle in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It gained some space in Bihar due to the pre-poll alliance with the JD(U) and the RJD and the reports coming from West Bengal suggest that its “understanding” with the Left worked well against the Trinamul Congress. But this has not been helping the Sonia Gandhi-led party to counter the battle of perception on the AgustaWestland deal.
Earlier, it had won the battle against the Modi government on the land bill and had checked the GST bill so far with the help of “like minded parties” in Parliament.
