INSIDE OUT

Akhilesh is a shining star

Times are changing and the sooner the older generation realises this the better.Hearing Akhilesh Yadav, the incumbent Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh being interviewed at the recent HT conclave, one could not but help admiring how the young Yadav has managed to learn the ropes of politics.

Prodded repeatedly about the Yadav family feuds, the chachas,the uncles, Prashant Kishore as also about his equations wth his father,the patriarch of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The ever-smiling Akhliesh tactfully avoided falling into the trap while maintaining his own. He answered only the questions he wanted and avoided the others, without being rude.

No wonder the senior Yadav has decided to put up the poster boy of the family as the face of the party in the elections in UP due in a few months, despite his open revolt against some of his close associates.

It is so easy to dump all young leaders who come from political families as beneficiaries of the dynasty system.But as the recent events in Lucknow precipitating a near split in the ruling SP showed sometimes having a legacy of so many politicians in the same family becomes an Albatross that only the tough can throw off.

Whatever machinations Amar Singh, the new-old ally of Mulayam Singh might be planning in the eventuality of a hung verdict, Akhilesh made a few things quite clear on a public platform.

The SP will have no truck with the Bahujan Samaj Party as it cannot be trusted. He dubbed Mayawati, who he referred to as 'Bua' as undependable because she had formed a government in alliance with the BJP in the past.

In one stroke he spelt out his repugnance for both the BSP and the BSP and he could not have taken such a stand without the concurrence of the octogenarian Mulayam Singh Yadav to whom he has pledged unequivocal loyalty.

Akhilesh was least critical of the Congress and went on to say on record that if the two came together their tally could cross 300 in the coming elections.This is a sentiment mutually shared by both parties as Rahul Gandhi has heaped praise on Akhilesh Yadav whenever he was asked a question about him.

One only hopes that Raj Babbar, the newly appointed President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee does not let his old bitter experiences with the Samajwadi Party, specially Amar Singh create bad blood as his summary rejection of an alliance proposal shows.


Nitish Kumar has a lot to learn

Taking a stand supporting a common enemy needs a lot of guts. Although Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has done that in the past too, this time his decision to stand with PM Modi on demonetisation has angered the other opposition parties no end.

Mamata Banerjee in her own emotional way called him a betrayer but the over-reaction of Nitish Kumar supporters who called called the Trinamool Congress, a party of scamsters will hit the credibility of the protests of the Opposition parties who are calling for an apology from the Prime Minister for his public speech implying that those opposing him are corrupt.

Kumar has been taking a public posture that he welcomed the move because the intent behind the demonetisation was good,only its implementation was not proper.

Most opposition parties have also been talking about the problems faced by the common man who has to stand in long queues to withdraw his own salary.

In this respect Derek O'Brien of TMC has done a commendable job by compiling a list of all the 92 people who have lost their lives standing in queues since November 9,2016.

The Congress is the only party that has taken a clear stand that the policy of demonetisation is not going to meet the objectives it seeks to meet. It's leaders like P Chidambaram, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and stalwarts like Anand Sharma have kept the BJP leaders tongue tied in parliament.

It has also been pointed out repeatedly by many well-known economists that demonetisation as a policy per se to check corruption or counterfeit notes is faulty, bedsides the hardships it is creating for the people who are wasting man-hours standing in queues.

Daily wage earners,the house maids and the vast majority of people in the unorganised sector who get paid in cash are facing a severe cash crunch as they say they have not got their wages for two months.Factories refuse to hire labourers as they do

If the BJP is still close to the ground it should heed the warning of its former blue-eyed boy and the RSS think-tank KN Govindacharya who has gone to court to demand compensation for the people who have died for no fault of theirs.


Manoj Tewari to match Kejriwal?

The Delhi BJP has changed its head for the third time in three years.

First it was Vijay Goel,them came Sushil Upadhyaya and now we have the popular Bhojpuri actor singer Manoj Tewari.Will he deliver what is expected of him?Revive the fortunes of a party which was totally wiped out from Delhi by the Maverick Arvind Kejriwal in the assembly elections in 2014. Well almost, because it has three MLAs in the assembly of 70.

The Central leadership of the BJP has been trying to embarrass the ruling Aam Aadmi Party by putting one case after another on its MLAs.Many of them have been exonerated by the courts and some like Somnath Bharti have very serious allegations against them. But this time the AAP has such a brute majority in the house than even if half its MLAs are disqualified it would not affect the government.

Such dirty games will not be enough to topple the man who knows how to make headlines everyday by picking on no less than the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. He talks only of Modi, Amit Shah or Arun Jaitley, the ruling troika of the BJP.Something that Mamata Banerjee is learning from him after their close association on the issue of demonetisation.

The faction-ridden BJP has already dispatched senior BJP leaders like Jagdish Mukhi and OP Kohli to far off places posting them as Governors.The process was started by sending off its Chief Ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi who had lost her own seat.

Manoj Tewari is an elected MP from Delhi but will he be able to match wits with the likes of Kejriwal and Ajay Maken of the Congress both of whom are great speakers and enjoy a blemishless public record.Only time will tell, as they say.