Maya meets Pawar: The birth of Maharashtra mahagathbandhanij

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Maya meets Pawar: The birth of Maharashtra mahagathbandhanij

Sunday, 05 August 2018 | Hari shankar vyas

Maya meets Pawar: The birth of Maharashtra mahagathbandhanij

It was a successful meeting between Mayawati and Sharad Pawar. Pawar, after consulting with the Congress, has decided to give space to Mayawati in the alliance for Maharashtra. Sources say that talks for an alliance between the Congress, NCP, and BSP have finished and distribution of seats will also be done soon. Raju Shetti, the farmer leader who was once with the BJP, will also be a part of this alliance.

Shetti, the leader of the Swabhimani Shetkari Saghtana, had fought the last elections along with the BJP and Shiv Sena alliance. He had got one seat, which he won. Shetti, who was earlier an MP, has detached himself from the NDA over the farmers’ issue, and Pawar managed to woo him into joining the alliance of the Opposition. Thus, the alliance of at least four parties is ready in Maharashtra. 

Now, only seat distribution details need to be worked out. According to the old formula, the Congress and NCP have been fighting on 26 and 22 seats respectively. The last time around, the Congress had won two of the total 26 seats, and the NCP had won four of the total 22. The NCP has clinched one more seat in the byelections, and hence wants a formula of 24-24 seats. The Congress might agree for this, but on the condition that the NCP gives one seats each to the BSP and Shetti from its own quota. Rahul Gandhi and in-charge of Maharashtra Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, are expected to have a word with Pawar over this.

TIE-UPS WITH CONGRESS

Even before the fight against the BJP begins, several parties are battling it out over the nature of relationship with the Congress. This has led to the formation of two sides: On one side are the parties whose leaders have set their eyes on the PM post, and on the other hand are parties whose leaders don’t wish to become the PM and are only interested in saving their existence. The parties whose leaders wish to become the PM are putting pressure on the Congress for more and more seats. If the Congress buckles under pressure, they would be happy, otherwise they don’t have any qualms about fighting separately. The TMC and BSP fall under this category. Both Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati are PM contenders, and don’t rely on the Congress to fight from their own bastions. This is also true that Mamata won’t give even a single seat of West Bengal to anybody else; her candidates will fight from all 42 seats.

Mayawati, too, wants to fight on

35-40 seats in UP, and will leave the remaining seats for the Samajwadi Party. Now the question is how many seats will the Congress and RJD getij This will depend on the Samajwadi Party. There is no PM candidate from the SP, but the party has a compulsion to toe Mayawati’s line. There’s a similar situation in Jharkhand. The JMM could go with the Congress, however, it is not dependent on Rahul’s party. In Tamil Nadu also, the DMK doesn’t need the Congress.

Then there are some parties which have a compulsion to go along with the Congress, such as the NCP in Maharashtra, the RJD in Bihar, and the NC in Jammu and Kashmir. These parties will create pressure to include the Congress in the proposed national alliance of the Opposition parties. Apart from these, the left parties also want the Congress to be a part of the alliance. But the left is of the view that the alliance should come into existence after the elections. That is why, barring a few small parties, most of the regional kshatrapas want to go it alone in the elections. The Congress is not ready to surrender before them, and is waiting for the Assembly Elections scheduled at the end of this year.

REACHING OUT TO UDDHAV

Rahul and Mamata seem to be tilting towards Uddhav Thackeray, just as the PM is towards the UPA partner, the DMK. Rahul and Mamata sent their wishes to the Shiv Sena chief on his birthday. Before this, neither Sonia nor Rahul ever wished Uddhav on his birthday. The Congress leaders have changed tack as the Shiv Sena is said to be unhappy with the BJP, and Sena mouthpiece Saamana has been heaping praises on Rahul. Perhaps, the Congress leaders think that if the Shiv Sena breaks away from the BJP, it will be a great jolt for the latter in Maharashtra. That is why Rahul wished Uddhav on his birthday, which was followed by a ‘thank you’ from Sanjay Raut. 

Mamata sees herself as the PM contender, and if the need arises, she might seek support from Hindu parties also. That is why she has reached out to Uddhav. For the past few days, the Shiv Sena leaders have also been praising Mamata. It’s interesting that PM Modi also wished Uddhav on his birthday, but the Sena didn’t respond.

RETIREMENT AGE OF JUDGES

Is the Central Government going to increase the retirement age of judgesij There are several speculations on this for the past few days and this debate has been raging on social media for several months. It started when four judges of the Supreme Court held a press conference and targeted the working style of the Chief Justice. Though at that time, it was being said that since the Bench of the Chief Justice was hearing important matters like Ram temple and Aadhaar, the Chief Justice would get an extension, but now it is being said that the Government is going to increase the retirement age of judges.

law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has, however, categorically denied this. He said, “No, with capital ‘N.’” But if the Government is planning something in this direction, it will get strength from Justice Kurien’s statement, who said the retirement age of the SC judges should be immediately increased to 70 years.

Sources say the top legal officer of the Central Government has prepared a proposal for this. According to the proposal, the retirement age of judges would be increased by two years, and if it is implemented, the SC judges will retire in 67 years and not 65. In the same manner, judges of the High Court will retire at the age of 64, not 62. Another proposal is to increase the retirement age of the SC and HC judges to 68 and 65 years respectively.

The Chief Justice will retire in October, and the senior-most judge, Ranjan Gogoi, will take charge. The tradition is that the CJI names his successor, but some think this time the tradition will be broken and another junior judge might be given charge.

AMAR SINGH TO CONTESTij

Amar Singh, who had been thrown out of the Samajwadi Party, might fight the lok Sabha Elections this time. Before the 2014 elections, he had formed his own party and, along with Jaya Prada, fought the lS polls, but both were defeated badly. This time, he is gearing up yet again. There are speculations that he has been trying to join the BJP. last week, at the conference of an industrialist in lucknow, PM Modi showed regard for him. Referring to the relationship between the Congress and industrialists, Modi said: “Amar Singh is sitting here and he will reveal the history of all.”

In fact, Amar Singh’s sole political quality seems to be the fact that he is aware of the history of everyone and has no qualms about revealing it. But the question is will the BJP allow him to join only due to this quality; there is little chance of this. That is why it is being speculated that he can fight from any of the alliance partner of the BJP. An unhappy alliance of the BJP, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), has even offered him a ticket.

The SBSP leader, OP Rajbhar, has said that if the BJP leaves the Azamgarh seat, then Amar Singh can fight from there. This must be noted that presently Mulayam Singh Yadav is the MP from Azamgarh, but this time, he will not fight from this seat. Even though the party and seat are not decided for Amar Singh, it is certain that he will fight this time. And wherever he goes, Jaya Prada will also go along with him and fight elections.

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