Election Track
A regular column on the essential buzz
Election Track
With election season upon the country, many have discovered their latent political ambitions and making a beeline for tickets to contest the Lok Sabha polls. The popular choice is the BJP despite the Congress’s latest upsurge. IN the queue is said to be retired Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani, who is in touch with BJP leaders. It is widely believed that he will get an extension to nurse the ailing public transporter to health. But Lohani may bite the political bullet if offered a ticket from home state Uttarakhand. Well, his social media posts about his desire to do something useful for his state are anything but clues.
Jab We Meet?
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar hit the campaign trail in the run-up to the 2019 general elections in Bihar, they will be setting a record of sorts. The two leaders have never shared the dais at any election rally in the past. Though the BJP and JD(U) had been allies for long and their coalition government was in power from 2005 to 2013, and from July 2017 until now, Nitish has never sought Modi pull power during polls. In fact, it is generally believed that Nitish had argued that Modi’s presence would irk his Muslim voters. Several state BJP leaders wanted Modi to campaign because of his popularity. But Nitish is said to have always put his foot down. That’s why Modi went to Jharkhand to campaign for the party but skipped Bihar.
Wrong ’Un
Experience causes confusion and this appeared to be the case with Sharad Yadav at the recent opposition rally hosted by Mamata Banerjee. The septuagenarian leader, who floated the Loktantrik Janata Dal after breaking away from the JD(U), kept talking about “daylight robbery of Bofors” while attacking the Modi government. Yadav obviously wanted to refer to Rafale. He corrected himself after Trinamool leader Derek O’Brien whispered into his ears. To be on the safer side, Mamata later explained that the veteran leader has seen so many political wars, sometimes old things can come up by mistake.