After preaching about escape velocity to Dalits, Rahul Gandhi may well be practising it himself, in hard core political terms. Just like the BJP is contemplating the prospect of Narendra Modi contesting from Lucknow or Benaras, the prospect of the Congress vice president contesting from the Medak parliamentary constituency in prospective Telangana state as his second option is being considered.
Sources clarified that the final decision would depend on how things shape up, mainly the UPA government’s ability to actually deliver the promised bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and settle issues on the ground, which is getting far more complicated by the day, before it goes to polls in April-May 2014. Second, of course, is whether or not Rahul takes that southern plunge. But an early idea is certainly there.
He is, however, not relinquishing Amethi. Like what his grandmother Indira Gandhi did in 1980, Rahul too could contest from two seats, Amethi and Medak.
Medak has a huge emotional connect with the Gandhi-Nehru family. When Indira Gandhi returned to power with a thumping majority after the post-Emergency Janata experiment failed, she had chosen to contest from two constituencies, her old Rae Bareilly in UP and Medak in Andhra Pradesh. She won hands down from both the constituencies.
As Katherine Frank writes in her book `Indira, The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi’, that “reluctantly Indira decided to resign from Rae Bareilly, allowing Sanjay who was elected from the neighbouring constituency Amethi to look after Uttar Pradesh. Indira handpicked a young family member, named Arun Nehru – a successful businessman and precocious political manipulator to take over Rae Bareilly.”
Indira Gandhi represented Medak constituency from 1980 till 1984, when she was assassinated. The present Medak MP, actress turned politician Vijay Shanti, is from the TRS but has virtually moved to the Congress.
The possibility of Rahul Gandhi shifting his constituency, or opting for a second constituency other than Amethi for the next elections, was first talked about by YSR Congress leader Dr M V Mysoora Reddy while he attributed motives to Sonia Gandhi for deciding on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. A senior TDP leader also spoke on similar lines.
Though the Congress has been conspicuously silent on that, a party leader said it was a very good idea and was likely to be worked upon, if everything goes right. It will fortify the party’s presence in Telangana.
History shows that whenever Congress was faced with a near rout in the north, South India kept it afloat. The Congress first family has been making forays in South India. Besides representing Medak, Indira Gandhi fought a by-election from Chikmagalur and Sonia Gandhi contested from Bellary, both in Karnataka and both won.
No wonder that all senior Congress leaders, importantly including general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, Digvijay Singh are maintaining the party’s and government’s decision to create Telangana is “irrevocable”.
The timing of Congress decision to go ahead with creation of Telangana and the manner in which it was being done is clearly angled for political gains. The ruling party would otherwise have faced complete rout in a state that sends 42 MPs to Lok Sabha. But then political parties are in business of politics and the Grand Old Party has been at for the last 128 years. The Congress may be facing a complete wipeout in 25 seats of Seemandhra region but it is expected to make a tremendous show in the 17 seats of Telangana.
The commitment to create a separate Telangana has generated massive goodwill for the Congress in the region, so much so that Telangana Rashtra Samiti could virtually be robbed of its plank. Sources said the Congress is insisting to TRS to merge unconditionally with it. The Congress is also not showing any undue haste in pressing the matter.
There are counter moves too. YSR Congress chief YS Vijayamma (Jaganmohan Reddy’s mother) met BJP president Rajnath Singh and sought his party’s support for her party’s United Andhra stance. During the meeting that lasted about 20 minutes, Vijayamma, who was accompanied by other party leaders, handed over a memorandum to Rajnath Singh on the bifurcation issue.
While the meeting was restricted to this particular issue, it assumes significance from the fact that Jagan Mohan had few days back praised Narendra Modi’s as an administrator, indicating he was not closed to any future, post-poll alliance. TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu had earlier met Singh and had set off multiple speculations.
In his Rampur rally in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday Rahul, who so far had played a reluctant prince, indicated that he could now be willing to take up the challenge that Congress had for so long desperately wanting him to take. “Next government in 2014 will be a government of youth,” he said. It could be interpreted variously but the Congress men want to believe that Rahul is finally showing his appetite to take on Narendra Modi.
The people may be protesting on streets of Seemandhra to fight for a cause they believe is right and many more be facing multiple hardships but some cold political calculations are being made in Delhi. The Congress may be delaying the bifurcation process a bit for two reasons, make the agitators burn out with fatigue and second, the state assembly taking an unpredictable turn with Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy not making it any easy.
The Congress leadership wants to time it such a manner that it comes to parliament only in the last session, the vote-on-account session in Feb-March 2014, not in the winter session of 2013.
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