By IANS,
New Delhi: Midway through Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second five-year stint, the Congress readies to take on both an aggressive opposition and an uncompromising Anna Hazare in make-or-break elections involving a whopping 137 million voters across five states.
Unlike in April-May this year when the Congress was not a key player in two of the major states that saw polls, it will have to prove its worth in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Punjab and Uttarakhand early next year.
With Hazare catching the imagination of large numbers with a strident anti-corruption drive and the opposition determined to score points, every seat will see a royal battle, analysts and party sources say.
But while the Congress feels the outcome of the January-March elections will not impact the Manmohan Singh government, the opposition thinks otherwise.
“The results will decide which way the wind will blow in 2014,” when the next Lok Sabha election is due, Tarun Vijay of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) told IANS.
He insisted that Hazare, who has vowed to campaign in all five states in support of a strong Lokpal, was bound to leave a mark.
“Anna’s campaign is not an individualistic campaign of one man. He represents people’s aspirations to have a great and clean India,” he said.
The Congress has another view.
“The elections are of course important but assembly elections are distinct from national elections,” cautioned Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi.
The most significant showdown will take place in Uttar Pradesh, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is intent on giving a new life to his party vis-a-vis the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party.
The Congress finished a pathetic number four in the last assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state where for decades it was a virtual monarch.
The Congress showing in the sprawling state is bound to reflect Rahul Gandhi’s political acumen besides proving the worth of other key players: BSP, Samajwadi Party, BJP and even Hazare.
The Congress is the ruling party in politically troubled Goa and Manipur, the most restive state in India’s northeast. It will try to oust the Akali Dal and BJP in Punjab, and the BJP in Uttarakhand.
While claiming publicly that the Hazare factor is no factor, Congress leaders have stepped up their attacks on the anti-corruption crusader who has trashed the government’s Lokpal bill.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has branded Hazare “an RSS agent”. Hazare confidant Arvind Kejriwal hit back Sunday saying Anna was “India’s agent”.
Ahead of the start of the staggered elections on Jan 28, Hazare will go on a much-publicised fast in Mumbai from Tuesday. Anna supporters will court arrest across the country from Dec 30.
Hazare, the biggest newsmaker of 2011, has publicly hailed the prime minister while running down Congress president Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi over the Lokpal issue.
Political analyst Paras Nath Choudhary warned that the electoral outcome “may have an effect on central politics”.
“The Congress is counting too much on the Rahul factor,” Choudhary, formerly of the South Asia Institute in Heidelberg University, told IANS. “It should not be forgotten that he failed in Bihar.”
Uttar Pradesh will see voting Feb 4, 8, 11, 15, 19, 23 and 28. Goa will go to polls March 3.
The polling will be held Jan 28 in Manipur, and in Uttarakhand and Punjab Jan 30. Results in all five states will be out March 4.
A total of 151,517 polling stations will be in place, with Uttar Pradesh accounting for 128,112.
Punjab has 117 seats in its assembly, Uttarakhand 70 seats, Manipur 60 seats and Goa 40 seats. The assembly in Uttar Pradesh, which has given the country most of its prime ministers, has 403 seats.