Both BJP and Congress have their CECs scheduled for Monday and are expected to come out with the second list of candidates tomorrow. (Getty)
For BJP, the aim is to achieve 400-plus seats for the NDA and isolate Congress in the political battle. On the other hand, the INDIA pact does not seem to exist beyond DMK, Samajwadi Party and the RJD
The start seemed rather uninspiring for a party riding on the INDIA bloc and aiming to dislodge the Narendra Modi government.
On the other hand, the BJP seems to be on board a Formula One racing car towards its aimed finishing line of 400 seats for the NDA — be it in terms of declaring candidates or stitching new alliances like with TDP in Andhra Pradesh and opening talks with the BJD in Odisha.
A regional party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), trumped the Congress in poll preparations by declaring all 42 candidates in West Bengal in one go and quashed all talk of any arrangement with the Grand Old Party.
This came after another INDIA ally, Aam Aadmi Party, took on the Congress inside the Punjab assembly, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann even daring the party to pull out of arrangements in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat.
Rahul Gandhi will fight from Wayanad in Kerala against the Left, sparking another strife in the INDIA camp. His opponent is Annie Raja, the wife of senior Left leader D Raja.
When the leaders are not able to agree on an alliance, it would be foolhardy to expect the cadre of various INDIA parties to work together on ground.
The only solace seemed to be Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge declaring that seat-sharing talks had concluded in Tamil Nadu with the DMK, and Congress would now be getting 10 seats to fight. The second list of the Congress is expected on Tuesday after the CEC on Monday.
BJP in Top Gear
The BJP camp has been in top election gear. PM Modi has been on a ‘Bharat Darshan’ across the country for the last one week, inaugurating projects worth crores and milking the self-goal by RJD supremo Lalu Prasad of taking a pot shot at the prime minister for having no family.
His party declared 195 candidates in one go and the second list with a considerable number of names is expected on Tuesday after the CEC meets on Monday. Nearly 70 per cent of BJP’s candidates could be declared before the Model Code of Conduct comes into play.
Senior BJP leaders are also opening new fronts with the TDP alliance in Andhra Pradesh being sealed last week and efforts on for an alliance with the BJD in Odisha.
Home Minister Amit Shah has been leading the talks for sealing the seat-sharing arrangement with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawan in Maharashtra, as well as with the JDU and Chirag Paswan in Bihar.
The Maharashtra and Bihar arrangements are expected to be announced this week. A deal with Akali Dal in Punjab is also in the works.
In the BJP camp, the mission seems simple, and no cost seems to matter. Like the eye of Arjun, the aim is to achieve 370 seats for the BJP and 400-plus for the NDA, as the target fixed by Narendra Modi, and isolate the Congress in this political battle.
The INDIA pact does not seem to exist beyond DMK, Samajwadi Party and the RJD — and in states, where the Congress is a minor partner.
