The Election Commission of India may announce the Lok Sabha poll dates in the coming weeks and all eyes are on opposition parties. People are desperate to see whether the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc will manage to put up a fight against the mighty BJP or it will continue to disintegrate. Mamata Banerjee has withdrawn from the coalition and Nitish Kumar has already joined the NDA. Amid all this, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra has entered Uttar Pradesh after traversing through Bihar. In Bihar, he was joined by former Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and in UP, Akhilesh Yadav is likely to join him during the yatra.
These three young leaders still command a decent percentage of the vote share but it would be interesting to see whether this proves enough to contain the Modi Magic aided by Ram Temple fervour and ‘tadka’ of social welfare policies.
In Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav joined Rahul Gandhi’s campaign, shared the stage with him, and assured him of support, signalling a strong alliance in Bihar. This is good news for the Congress as friendship seems intact in Bihar. Another development is Rahul Gandhi’s entry into Uttar Pradesh politics, starting from Chandauli. He is expected to visit Varanasi and then proceed to Amethi, Rae Bareli, and Kanpur.
While Uttar Pradesh has 80 Parliamentary seats, Bihar has 40 seats. Last time, Narendra Modi-led NDA had won 101 out of the 120 seats. That time, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party had joined hands with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and they went on to win 15 seats. However, Mayawati is unlikely to ally with the SP this time and this makes the contest even more interesting.
Akhilesh has already announced some candidates, but internal tensions are apparent, as seen in the split of three RJD MLAs and internal strife in Akhilesh’s party over the Rajya Sabha elections.
- 2019 Election Outcome In Bihar, UP
- 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, 40 in Bihar
- BSP-SP coalition in Uttar Pradesh secured 38% of the votes
- Together, they won a total of 15 seats
- BJP alone secured nearly 50% of the votes in UP
- NDA had a significant victory in Bihar, winning 39 out of 40 seats
- NDA won 62 out of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh
- RJD did not open its account in Bihar’s 40 seats.
With Tejashwi wooing voters with job promises and delivery when he was in power, Akhilesh alleging governance mismanagement by the BJP and Rahul Gandhi leading his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra through the state, the contest is getting more interesting in these two states.