Missing you in motion

The absence of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, the 2 star campaigners of the Congress, from the West Bengal meeting election scene has raised questions in regards to the social gathering’s technique within the state. Elections to the 294 meeting seats in Bengal are being held in eight phases. By April 10, polling could be over for 135 seats within the first 4 phases. Yet, no member of the Gandhi household has addressed a single rally within the state to this point.This is in sharp distinction to the social gathering’s campaigns within the different three states going to polls, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu in addition to the Union territory of Puducherry. While Rahul spent most of his time prior to now two months in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Priyanka addressed rallies in Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala earlier than she needed to isolate herself on April 2 after husband Robert Vadra examined constructive for Covid.Several senior Congress leaders say not campaigning in Bengal within the first 4 phases was a aware transfer by the Gandhis. In Bengal, the Congress is in an alliance with the Left events whereas in Kerala it’s engaged in a fierce battle in opposition to the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF). While campaigning in Kerala, Rahul had likened the Left to the BJP. “The Left Front is as divisive as the BJP. It’s interesting that the prime minister spends every single day talking about a Congress-mukt Bharat. I have never heard him say Left Front-mukt Bharat or Kerala,” Rahul stated. Drawing related comparisons, Congress normal secretary and CWC (Congress Working Committee) member Randeep Singh Surjewala instructed india at present that Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan was a ‘Modi (PM Narendra Modi) in a dhoti’.Congress strategists consider Rahul campaigning with Left leaders in Bengal would have damage the social gathering’s prospects in Kerala. This, they argue, was the explanation the Gandhis, in February, turned down a request from the Bengal unit of the Congress to attend a rally referred to as by the Left at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground a.okay.a. the Maidan. They apparently didn’t wish to be seen sharing the dais with the Left.At the identical time, the Gandhis didn’t wish to embarrass the Bengal Congress unit over their assaults on the LDF. So, most nationwide Congress leaders stayed away from Bengal until April 6, when polling resulted in Kerala. “Certainly, this dichotomy of joining hands with the Left in one state and fighting against it in another has been a dilemma for our top leadership. But I’m sure they’ll campaign in Bengal in the subsequent polling phases,” says Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, president of the Congress in Bengal and chief of the social gathering within the Lok Sabha.The BJP didn’t miss the all-too-apparent duality within the Congress’s ties with the Left. Referring to Vijayan’s remark that the Congress can’t be trusted, Union minister Prakash Javadekar had, in a tweet in March, questioned how the CPI(M) had struck an alliance with the Congress in Bengal.A bit of Congress leaders, off the document, declare that Rahul has been staying away from West Bengal as he’s sad in regards to the state unit’s determination to hitch arms with the Left in opposition to Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress (TMC). They declare Rahul was eager on an alliance with the TMC to stop a break up within the anti-BJP vote.Chowdhury dismisses such hypothesis. “The Congress high command, including Rahul Gandhi, left decisions about the election strategy in Bengal to the state unit. He did not interfere and always supported our decisions,” he says.Surjewala additionally denies any confusion within the social gathering over ties with the Left. He maintains that the Congress nationwide management didn’t marketing campaign in Bengal within the first 4 phases because the social gathering contested solely a handful of seats in these phases. Of the 91 seats the Congress is contesting, solely 20 went to polls within the first 4 phases. “Rahul Gandhi will soon start campaigning in Bengal. Most of the seats we are contesting are in the later phases,” says Surjewala. Malda, Murshidabad, central Bengal and north Bengal, the place the social gathering has a brighter likelihood, will go to polls within the upcoming phases.Importantly, the Gandhis have been spending extra time in states the place they fancy the Congress has an opportunity to come back to energy. In Assam and Kerala, the Congress is the principle challenger to the ruling social gathering. In Tamil Nadu, it’s a junior companion in the principle opposition alliance led by the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam). “What’s the point of Rahul Gandhi wasting time in Bengal where the Congress’s chances are, at best, to emerge as the no. 3 party?” asks a Congress normal secretary.According to a CWC member, Rahul’s workplace has requested the social gathering’s Bengal unit to point dates and areas for campaigning within the state. The former Congress president is more likely to marketing campaign within the final two or three phases. But in line with a Lok Sabha MP of the social gathering, even this plan would possibly change. The Gandhis might skip the state altogether, significantly after Mamata’s letter to Sonia Gandhi and different opposition leaders for a joint technique in opposition to the BJP after the present meeting polls. Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra campaigns within the stateOwing to Sonia’s private equation with Mamata, the Gandhis would wish to keep away from mounting any public assaults on the Bengal chief minister and her authorities. Several opposition events, together with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party and Nationalist Congress Party, have already supported Mamata, alienating the Congress within the opposition camp.In these circumstances, had been they to marketing campaign in Bengal, it will be untenable for the Gandhis to have Left and native Congress leaders goal the Mamata authorities. So far, Bengal Congress leaders have been fairly unsparing of their criticism of the Mamata regime. Chowdhury admits that Mamata’s letter to Sonia might add to the dilemma of the central management. And it might properly imply that the Gandhis will select to utterly miss electioneering in West Bengal.Read India Today journal by downloading the newest concern: https://www.indiatoday.com/emag