Five states will be going to polls soon after Parliament concludes its Budget session. These are Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. What is crucial here is that with the exception of Assam, it is the Opposition that is in power in the other three states. And given that two of the states are in the South the battle becomes all the more interesting. Can the BJP breach the Southern bastion, for apart from Karnataka and some headway in Andhra and Telangana, the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu remain unconquered.
Which is why the former BJP President and current Home minister Amit Shah is spending a lot of his time and energy working alliances in Tamil Nadu and has deputed former union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar to front the battle in Kerala. As the recent civic polls have shown , Chandrasekhar has made some headway already. West Bengal however remains firmly in Mamata Bannerjee’s control though this is also a state that has Amit Shah’s keen focus.
While Mamata Bannerjee and MK Stalin (current chief ministers) seem poised for a comeback in their states, it is for the Congress to win Kerala, which seems ripe for the plucking. There is anti-incumbency against the ruling LDF and the Congress is the dominant party in Opposition. Rahul Gandhi has stepped in to curb the infighting within the state unit for he is all too aware of the example of Haryana and how inner party dynamics can lose a winning state.
The Congress is the dominant party of opposition in Assam as well. However here the sitting CM Himanta biswa Sarma is on a strong wicket. Regardless, Rahul gandhi has fielded not just Gaurav Gogoi as the Congress CM face but also deputed the charismatic Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to campaign in the state. With her feisty repartee Priyanka will take on Sarma on the campaign trail and play a key role in countering the BJP’s narrative.
In the end, it is important for the Congress to step up as a credible opposition partner and deliver some election wins to consolidate its hold within the INDIA bloc. While other opposition leaders are delivering the Congress should not be seen as the weak link. And it has a chance to improve these optics in the coming state elections.
