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Narendra Modi is our real poll plank, says Congress

CL Manoj, ET Bureau Sep 14, 2013, 05.26AM IST
(Narendra Modi’s emergence…)

NEW DELHI: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's emergence as PM candidate is likely to prevent consolidation around BJP and turn his polarising personality into the main electoral issue in the 2014 general elections.

Congress indicated as much on Friday, when Union minister Manish Tewari said, "Modi's leadership is a clear sign of RSS' complete takeover of BJP's affairs and it moving to extreme Hindutva agenda."

Modi has already been nicknamed 'Our Real Poll Plank' by a section in Congress, a leader said, adding that Modi's anti-Muslim image can shift focus from allegations of corruption and economic mismanagement against the UPA government.

Non-BJP Opposition leaders feel Congress would try to draw a 'secular rekha' between BJP and it. JD(U) leader KC Tyagi told ET, "With Modi as PM candidate, BJP has gone back to the Balraj Madhok-led Jan Sangh days. It also means end of anti-Congress politics. The poll campaign will not be about corruption or price rise, but Modi vs Rahul, Modi vs Sonia Gandhi, Modi vs Congress, and eventually, secularism vs communalism."

Tyagi said Congress would be able to line up many allies against a truncated NDA, leaving other regional parties to fight alone. "Members of Vajpayee-led NDA like JD(U), Trinamool, TDP, BJD and AGP will not touch Modi-led BJP. That is the real Modi effect," Tyagi said. Congress has the record of being defeated in Lok Sabha polls only when a leader could become a rallying point. "JP did it, VP Singh did it and Vajpayee did it. Modi can only isolate BJP," a Congress leader said.

At the moment, two distinct anti-Congress camps are vying for anti incumbency votes. "Modi hawa mein ladega lekin zameen pe haarega," said SP leader Shailendra Kumar, who maintained that his party was all for a Third Front with Left parties. Yet, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is not keen on fielding candidates against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, partly because he wants to prevent a Congress-BSP tie-up. JD(S) leader Danish Ali echoed Kumar: "JD(S) will not touch BJP. We are for a Third Front with the Left."

But Left needs to win more than 35 seats to be fulcrum of a front. "The Left is for a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative based on programmes. There could be some state-level electoral understanding with some parties," said CPM's Brinda Karat. CPM hopes for a better show in Kerala, gains in West Bengal and is eyeing pacts with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, with TDP/YSRC in AP, BJD in Odisha, SP in UP and JD(U)/RJD in Bihar. In brief, Modi's elevation has opened more opportunities for rivals.