oppn parties Key State Elections: Opposition To Be Tested

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  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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oppn parties
Key State Elections: Opposition To Be Tested

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-04-06 03:21:02

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

Two states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and one Union territory, Puducherry, will have state elections today in a single phase. Assam will be voting in the third and final phase while the third phase (out of the total eight) of voting will take place in West Bengal.

In Kerala, the LDF and the UDF are engaged in a direct contest with the BJP nowhere in the picture. Despite anti-incumbency and focus by Rahul Gandhi, it seems the LDF is poised to win the state. In Tamil Nadu, the incumbent AIADMK, despite support from the BJP (or maybe because of that) is likely to lose the elections and the DMK might win. In Assam, the BJP alliance is likely to return to power, while in Puducherry, the Congress is likely to taste defeat.

It is West Bengal that is throwing up mixed signals and no one is willing to bet his or her money on the outcome. That the TMC is rattled is clear in the manner Mamata Banerjee is saying that the ISF has taken money from the BJP to split Muslim votes and making repeated to the community not to fall in the trap and divide their votes.

It seems that the BJP charges of taking cut money from beneficiaries before making payments to them under government schemes and the oppression of the syndicate raj have found takers among the voters. On the contrary, the TMC charge of the BJP being a party of 'outsiders' seems not to have found resonance. The state is divided despite the TMC doing good work in the last 6 months.

These elections hold the key which way opposition unity will take. For, if the BJP manages to win Assam and Puducherry, makes a huge dent in the TMC citadel in West Bengal and wins more than expected seats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the opposition will have to give serious thought to the points enumerated in Mamata Banerjee's recent letter to 14 opposition leaders. 

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