With the Maharashtra & Jharkhand elections drawing to a close, the focus will soon shift to the winter session of Parliament that is slated to begin from 25th November, two days after the results of the recent round of polls. Of course a lot of the discourse will depend on which side wins; if the opposition notches up a decent score then expect more disturbance and an aggressive take down of the government on the floor of the house. However if the BJP and its allies score a decent number especially if they manage to retain Maharashtra and notch up a sizeable showing in the UP bypolls, then the aggression will flow from the Treasury Benches as it recovers some of the mojo that it had lost post the Lok Sabha results. As it is post Haryana the BJP seems to have found its voice again on the Maharashtra campaign ground.
As far as issues go, the continuing violence and ethnic strife in Manipur is something that the opposition would be keen to bring to the house while the government would like to steer the debate towards international issues, the thaw from China and the reelection of Trump. The rising AQI is Delhi will see some political football as both the AAP and the BJP will blame each other for the current situation. Given the fact that Delhi elections are due early next year, expect a lot of noise on this issue. Equally it would be interesting to see which way the Congress goes on this one for as of now there is no alliance between the Congress and the AAP for the Delhi polls.
The Uttar Pradesh results will also be interesting not just for politics between Akhilesh Yadav and UP CM Yogi Adityanath but also as it could be a comment on the state of relations within the BJP. If Yogi manages to wrest a majority of the nine bypolls what does it say about his position within the party? It would at the very least, lay to rest rumours that talk of a regime change in the UP CM’s chair before the state elections in 2027.
Then there will also be Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s debut within parliament. She is tipped to win the Wayanad bypolls, a seat vacated for her by her brother. With her entry both the Gandhi siblings will be present in the Lok Sabha. It would be interesting to see their working equation as well as Priyanka’s foray into parliamentary politics for she knows well the art of give and take on the campaign field.
All in all, get set for a fiesty winter session of Parliament in the coming week.
