Its aya Ram, gaya Ram again

Some things never die in politics. And this is true also of the aya Ram gaya Ram syndrome which gets a fresh lease on life time and again.

And so in Uttar Pradesh we had, last week, the ugly controversy over the admission into the BJP of discredited Bahujan Samaj Party leader and prime suspect in the NRHM (National Rural Health Mission) scam, Babu Singh Kushwaha. The UP Family Welfare Minister, who was expelled by Chief Minister Mayawati, making it into the saffron party with such fanfare, left many a BJP leader red in the face.

On January 2, the CBI registered five cases against government and private sector officials, including one against Mr Kushwaha, alleging a loss of about Rs 28 crore in the implementation of the Centrally-sponsored scheme meant for 72 districts of UP. The total outlay for UP under this scheme is Rs 10,000 crore.

It's caste, silly!

However, with the BJP local leadership in UP, particularly its firebrand leader Vinay Katwar, also the party's national vice-president, Mr Kalraj Mishra and others defending the decision saying that he was an important OBC leader, the importance of caste and communal politics gets reinforced yet again. The BJP has historically enjoyed upper caste support and is desperate to rope in votes from the BC and OBC groups to bolster its sagging fortunes in India's largest state.

But with more voices being raised within the party — Uma Bharti and Maneka Gandhi, for example — and, more important, even the RSS, frowning on this controversial decision, some damage control has been put in place. The man under a cloud has come to the BJP's rescue by resigning from its primary membership, saying he would return after clearing his name. What made the BJP's decision to welcome into its fold this tainted man even more untenable was that, barely a few days earlier, the party's chief of the scam expose committee, Mr Kirit Somaiya, had alleged that members of Mr Kushwaha's family had formed bogus companies to stash the ill-gotten booty from the scam.

In the Samajwadi Party too, the political hara-kiri is at its heights, vis-a-vis the move to admit another expelled BSP leader, the muscleman D. P. Yadav! The SP saw a tussle between senior Muslim face of the party, Mr Mohammad Azam Khan, who wanted to embrace Mr D. P. Yadav of questionable credentials, but this move was opposed by the heir apparent — Mr Akhilesh Yadav — who argued there was no place in the party for men with a criminal background.

And, as the first phase of the UP election will begin in less than a month, there is a hot chase for finding winnable candidates. The SP has gone into an overdrive in changing candidates at the drop of a hat.

Bigger story

But the bigger story of the new year is another, and much more important, aya Ram gaya Ram episode. Only this time, instead of individuals, heavyweight parties are concerned in this game of revolving doors. Once the UP election is out of the way, we are likely to see the admission into the UPA of the SP, with its 22 MPs, and the ejection of the mercurial Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress Party. Mamata Didi has been a thorn in the Congress-led UPA's front for some time now and is being increasingly cited by Congress leaders as the primary reason for the “policy paralysis” stain on the UPA Government. Whether it was the stalling of FDI in retail or the flopping of the Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha, at the centre of all these was the West Bengal Didi 's belligerent stand.

SP chief Mulayam Singh's son, Akhilesh Yadav, who is increasingly becoming the big boss of the party, has been dropping enough hints that there is a possibility of the SP shoring up the UPA's flagging numbers in the Lok Sabha by joining it. The SP's pound of flesh, for this lollipop, will of course be the Congress's support to help it form a government in Lucknow in case of a hung Assembly.

The Rahul mantra

Any political novice would ask, instead of contesting the UP elections separately, should not the two parties enter into a pre-poll rather than a post-poll alliance? A sensible question, but this will not happen, the main reason being king-size egos. No Congress leader will dare to suggest a pre-poll alliance with the SP, which could well be a winning combine, because the Prince Charming of the party, Mr Rahul Gandhi, has batted in favour of the Congress going it alone! So rather than earn the Yuvraj's wrath, the Congress will be content to throw away seats it could have won in alliance with the SP, because in several constituencies, the votes of communities such as Muslims will be split between the Congress and the SP.

Talking of Muslims, the wooing game has begun and they are being offered a generous sub-quota within the 27 per cent OBC quota by leaders such as Mr Rahul Gandhi, Mr Salman Khurshid and Mr Digvijay Singh. Recently, Mr Rahul had an hour-long interaction with the president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Maulana Rabey Hasani Nadwi, who also heads the Nadwatul Ulema Darul-Uloom, a noted Sunni Muslim seminary.

Meanwhile, in Lucknow and the rest of UP, one can expect a surfeit of veiled images next month! On orders from the Chief Election Commissioner, Mr S. Y. Quraishi, Ms Mayawati's administration, within three days, will have to undertake the mammoth exercise of covering up the innumerable statues of Maya Memsaab as well as thousands of elephants, the BSP's electoral symbol. Apparently, all portraits of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi will have to be covered, too. The only Gandhi being spared is Mahatma Gandhi, as “he belongs to no party” said Mr Quraishi.

It is reported that Lucknow alone has seven bronze statues, worth over Rs 3.5 crore, and two marble statues of Ms Mayawati.

Wonder how many Awadh rulers are turning in their graves!

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