After remaining out of form for more than 3 years , Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seems to have struck form as an economist turned politician. We had seen sparks of this genius during the passing of nuclear bill.itbis one of the rare occasions when he takes charge, puts his foot down and Sonia takes a backseat. In between these strikes to form, he loses out of " coalition dh...
arma" , sometimes out of helplessness and sometimes due to international market conditions.
In one of his rare outbursts , he came out of his cocoon and bundled his detractors as rumour mongers justifying the diesel price hike and FDI in retail issues. The only surprising point is that he finds his form when political turmoil is at its peak due to Coalgate and FDI and price rise . He has forgotten the coalition dharma and taken it on himself to be the saviour or knight in armour. The Congress too finds it convenient to let the otherwise subservient PM to take guard as the last resort. Nevertheless , Congress after all the corruption charges and lack of governance issues, find a way out and strategy when it comes to garnering numbers on the floor. Manmohan Singh made a reference to 1991 tenure as the finance minister without giving due credit to PV Narasimha Rao his mentor at that stage and the man who was one of the trendsetting Congress PMs who could run a minority government without compromising on the reforms and liberalization that gathered momentum during his tenure. but again due to the Gandhi/Nehrus aversion to Narasimha Rao, he has been forgotten , but those years have been remembered. Scams during those periods are dwarfs against the current scams. Better late than never, Manmohan's return to form is a welcome sign for India.
BJP the principal opposition is in consistent form for the past one year but gets out in the 80s and 90s without completing the century. The aggression is clear but the strategy is not in place and the worst part is that nobody wants to touch them. This is a bad sign because in the 2014 elections even if BJP overtakes the Congress in the seats tally , the mustering of coalition partners becomes an issue because of the internal disarray of BJP and the smart strategization by Congress as displayed on various occasions in the recent past. Add to that the woes of Chhattisgarh and Jharkand in Coalgate. In such a situation , one bold step in putting up Narendra Modi as PM would work and would pull an extra 25 seats for the BJP which would be a better risk than finding partners who I doubt would get that many seats in Lok Sabha. That's the only chance for BJP.
Mulayams SP has been putting it's feet into too many boats. As saviour of Congress it supports the UPA from outside to extract funds from the Centre to fulfill poll promises in UP and also to avoid the dangling sword of CBI cases against them as in the case of Mayawati. The second role as the messiah of the masses, SP does a dharma at Parliament Street against the Centre's policy of FDI and price rise but still supporting the centre to keep "communal forces at bay", don't know what that means. The third avatar is that of PM in making for the likely Third Front . He needs to balance all these as the doors are wide open in the 2014 elections. If the Congress loses out , it is most likely to support a third front led government led by Mulayam or Nitish or Naveen , to keep itself in power.
Finally , the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata has made a substantial boost in it's public image as being the only politically correct party in the whole fiasco. TMC stuck to it's guns, even losing power in the Centre but occupied a lot of mindspace in public posturing which even Anna today finds it difficult to do. Mamata has taken a stand that will reap rich electoral dividends.
In this quagmire of dirty politics, every role that each one takes is election oriented. While Manmohan Singh shows his form as number 6 or 7 batsman of the team trying to stave of defeat for his team, Mulayam has taken the role of an allrounder who can do everything like talk for peoples interest, support government from outside. BJP plays the consistent bowling team who reaches close to a win but loses due to poor strategy and Mamata is the test player - slow and steady, biding for her time.
In one of his rare outbursts , he came out of his cocoon and bundled his detractors as rumour mongers justifying the diesel price hike and FDI in retail issues. The only surprising point is that he finds his form when political turmoil is at its peak due to Coalgate and FDI and price rise . He has forgotten the coalition dharma and taken it on himself to be the saviour or knight in armour. The Congress too finds it convenient to let the otherwise subservient PM to take guard as the last resort. Nevertheless , Congress after all the corruption charges and lack of governance issues, find a way out and strategy when it comes to garnering numbers on the floor. Manmohan Singh made a reference to 1991 tenure as the finance minister without giving due credit to PV Narasimha Rao his mentor at that stage and the man who was one of the trendsetting Congress PMs who could run a minority government without compromising on the reforms and liberalization that gathered momentum during his tenure. but again due to the Gandhi/Nehrus aversion to Narasimha Rao, he has been forgotten , but those years have been remembered. Scams during those periods are dwarfs against the current scams. Better late than never, Manmohan's return to form is a welcome sign for India.
BJP the principal opposition is in consistent form for the past one year but gets out in the 80s and 90s without completing the century. The aggression is clear but the strategy is not in place and the worst part is that nobody wants to touch them. This is a bad sign because in the 2014 elections even if BJP overtakes the Congress in the seats tally , the mustering of coalition partners becomes an issue because of the internal disarray of BJP and the smart strategization by Congress as displayed on various occasions in the recent past. Add to that the woes of Chhattisgarh and Jharkand in Coalgate. In such a situation , one bold step in putting up Narendra Modi as PM would work and would pull an extra 25 seats for the BJP which would be a better risk than finding partners who I doubt would get that many seats in Lok Sabha. That's the only chance for BJP.
Mulayams SP has been putting it's feet into too many boats. As saviour of Congress it supports the UPA from outside to extract funds from the Centre to fulfill poll promises in UP and also to avoid the dangling sword of CBI cases against them as in the case of Mayawati. The second role as the messiah of the masses, SP does a dharma at Parliament Street against the Centre's policy of FDI and price rise but still supporting the centre to keep "communal forces at bay", don't know what that means. The third avatar is that of PM in making for the likely Third Front . He needs to balance all these as the doors are wide open in the 2014 elections. If the Congress loses out , it is most likely to support a third front led government led by Mulayam or Nitish or Naveen , to keep itself in power.
Finally , the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata has made a substantial boost in it's public image as being the only politically correct party in the whole fiasco. TMC stuck to it's guns, even losing power in the Centre but occupied a lot of mindspace in public posturing which even Anna today finds it difficult to do. Mamata has taken a stand that will reap rich electoral dividends.
In this quagmire of dirty politics, every role that each one takes is election oriented. While Manmohan Singh shows his form as number 6 or 7 batsman of the team trying to stave of defeat for his team, Mulayam has taken the role of an allrounder who can do everything like talk for peoples interest, support government from outside. BJP plays the consistent bowling team who reaches close to a win but loses due to poor strategy and Mamata is the test player - slow and steady, biding for her time.
