It is becoming increasingly clear that with Rahul Gandhi at the helm of the Congress with his poor organising ability and equally weak strategising, the BJP would be able to get past the winning post in next year’s general elections even if it fails to win a clear public mandate. Two milestone wins in the just-concluded session of Parliament have strengthened this feeling — the first is the no-confidence motion that the NDA was able to defeat comprehensively and the second the failure of the Opposition to defeat the NDA nominee in the election to the post of deputy leader of the Rajya Sabha despite the benefit of better numerical strength on paper. Nothing illustrates Rahul’s arrogance better than the fact that in the Rajya Sabha battle, he could not even get the Aam Aadmi Party on board with its three members by fulfilling its demand that Rahul must call up Arvind Kejriwal to seek his party’s support.
Besides, the Biju Janata Dal, despite the fact that it sees the BJP as its principal rival in the Assembly polls, could not be weaned away by the Congress. By shrewdly putting up a JD (U) nominee instead of its own, the BJP checkmated the Opposition by firmly drawing that party away from the Opposition. The YSR Congress has had a channel of communication open with the BJP but has been publicly opposing it. Both during the no-trust vote and the Rajya Sabha vote, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party abstained, yielding an advantage to the NDA. That the NDA has cemented ties with all these parties to prepare itself for the eventuality of falling short of a majority in the Lok Sabha polls is a measure of its superior strategising. The Congress, on the other hand, is still groping despite enjoying the support of many Opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha. It is a case of serving power to the BJP virtually on a platter through poor strategising.
