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Yet the BJP satrap failed in the forts!

Making a tribal woman candidate in the presidential election was a masterstroke of the BJP. By law, there should not have been any opposition to Draupadi Murmu. Like before, KR Narayanan did not happen in the name of electing a Dalit President or APJ Abdul Kalam did not happen. Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee had also said that the BJP did not consult in the name of Draupadi Murmu earlier, it was only a formality of talks. This means that if the BJP had negotiated earlier, it is possible that a consensus would have been reached on Murmu’s name. It seems that the BJP was confident that fielding a tribal woman as its candidate would automatically break the opposition unity and the opposition parties would also support her. but that did not happen. The opposition parties retained their fort. Despite tribal and women’s cards, BJP made many efforts for cross-voting in many states, but it could not get much success.

According to preliminary reports, there are reports of 17 MPs and 121 MLAs doing cross-voting. Most of these MPs and MLAs are from Congress. In states like Gujarat, Assam, Jharkhand etc. Congress MLAs did cross voting. But most of the satraps retained their fort. BJP could not make a dent in it. Supporting Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in the name of tribal candidate has its place, but where satraps did not give support, their votes were not lost. Large areas of West Bengal are tribal dominated. For this reason Mamta Banerjee had refused UPA candidate Yashwant Sinha from coming to her place. It seemed that some MLAs from tribal-dominated areas might cross-voting. But in West Bengal 216 MLAs voted for Yashwant Sinha. Draupadi Murmu got 71 votes, which were entirely BJP votes.

Similarly, the state of hope for the BJP in South India is Telangana, where the party wants to be an alternative to Telangana Rashtra Samithi in next year’s elections. There the party is also working hard but not a single opposition MLA did cross-voting in the presidential election there. The BJP has three MLAs in the state and Draupadi Murmu got only three votes. Yashwant Sinha got the votes of the rest of the TRS, Congress and MIM MLAs. Similarly, Draupadi Murmu got 75 votes in Tamil Nadu. There also not a single MLA did cross voting. Anna DMK, PMK, BJP and PBK together have 75 votes in the state assembly and Murmu got the same number of votes. In the last elections in Kerala, BJP could not open its account but both the party and the Sangh have been working very aggressively at the grassroots level. Despite this, Draupadi Murmu got one vote in the state. That is, one MLA did cross voting in the entire assembly. It is possible that they got that vote in the name of tribal and women. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh too, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Samajwadi Party largely kept their fortress. Aam Aadmi Party MPs and MLAs in Delhi and Punjab also cast all votes for Yashwant Sinha.

So, the presidential election has a big lesson for both the opposition and the Congress, especially for the Congress. Congress being the single largest party wants to lead the opposition alliance. But the reality is that she is standing on the weakest wicket. Only party MLAs and MPs are unable to show confidence in the leadership. Wherever the BJP wants, it breaks it or gets its MLAs, MPs cross voting. In comparison, the leadership of regional parties is stronger. From the recent Rajya Sabha elections to the Presidential elections, this has been shown. Therefore, Congress should rethink its strategy. It should be seen which party and which leader is more capable to lead the opposition. At the same time, he will also have to work hard to keep his party and organization united. The weak link in the opposition’s fight against the BJP in the next election is the Congress.

Shubham Bangwal

Shubham Bangwal is a Senior Journalist at Youthistaan.com You can follow him on Twitter @sb_0fficial
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