English हिन्दी
Connect with us

India News

AAP to sweep Punjab: Opinion poll

Published

on

Voters wait in queue to casting vote during Punjab assembly polls at a polling station in Hoshiarpur on February 4, UNI

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Its results indicate UP heading for a hung assembly, BJP winning Uttarakhand

By Nora Chopra

There are clear indications that no party is likely to get a clear majority in Uttar Pradesh. It looks like it is going to be a hung assembly in the country’s most populous state.

According to an opinion poll conducted by Amrish Tyagi, psephologist and son of Janata Dal (United) general secretary KC Tyagi, in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, before the polling in Punjab and Goa on February 4, the BJP can hope to form government only in Uttarakhand. The projected success of the BJP is imputed to the errors of incumbent Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

Tyagi was a poll consultant with the Donald Trump campaign team and he was tasked to reach out to the Asian community as well as assess its political preferences.

In Punjab where the Aam Aadmi Party had slipped back a few months ago, is back in the race.  Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘jharoo’ (the broom is the poll symbol) party is expected to sweep  its stronghold, Malwa region, which is represented by its three Members of Parliament (MP)s. Malwa region has 69 seats, out of which, according to the survey, the AAP is expected to get 55 to 62 seats. He would need another 10 to 15 seats from outside Malwa to form the government. The Congress is expected to get 45 to 52, and the Akali-BJP alliance 15 to 18 seats. The others will get two-four seats.

In Sikh-dominated Punjab, the assembly election has been fought for the first time between the poor and the rich. It was a class war, says Tyagi. Kejriwal is supposed to have done what even the founder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Kanshiram, who belonged to Punjab, could not do. BSP had failed to have any impact in the state which has 34 per cent Dalit population, one of the highest in any state in the country. Kejriwal has successfully wooed Dalit voters along with the rural poor. Polling on Sunday saw the voter turnout in rural areas the highest at any time in the past.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Aligarh on February 5, ahead of the assembly polls in the state, UNI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Aligarh on February 5, ahead of the assembly polls in the state, UNI

The Congress was tipped to win in the state this time. Tyagi’s pre-poll survey had given 45 to 52 seats to the party. Captain Amarinder Singh, the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate, faced tough opposition from the Akali candidate and former chief of the army staff (COAS), General JJ Singh, and it is feared that he might even lose the election. Akali chief Prakash Singh Badal, who has been chief minister for 10 years now, has perhaps conceded defeat because he is learnt to have helped the Congress and head of the royal family of Patiala by asking the Akali followers to vote for the Congress candidate.

In this situation, it is the Hindu bloc that has no clear choice. In a normal election, the Hindu voter opted for the Congress and later preferred the BJP. But with the BJP out of reckoning, and the prospects of the Congress looking bleak, the Hindu bloc was left anchorless.  

The poll battle in Uttar Pradesh is the most confusing. Tyagi says no party is likely to get a clear majority. According to the survey he had conducted around January 25, the fight in UP is a triangular. It appears that BJP will emerge as the single largest party with 152 to 162 seats, the BSP, the most under-rated party, could win 125 to 135 seats, while the SP-Congress alliance will end in the third spot with 110 to 118 seats. The Congress is likely to fare better than the SP. The others will get 10 to 15 seats.

With each passing day, Tyagi says the scenario appears more confusing than ever. Mayawati seems to be gaining ground by the day.

Much would depend on the first phase of polling in western UP, where the Muslim vote is around  25 per cent and the Dalit vote is about 19 per cent, making her Dalit-Muslim social alliance a formidable force. While the Yadavs are absent in the belt stretching from Saharanpur to Agra. The Congress may boost the staggering fortunes of the SP, but it will not be sufficient for the alliance to win the election in the state. Muslims are unlikely to waste their vote on SP.  Their sole aim is to defeat the BJP. The SP and Congress blundered by not aligning with Ajit Singh’s Jat party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for fear of not getting the Muslim votes and apprehensions that the Jat vote would switch to the BJP.  But they were wrong as RLD, which had nine seats in the last assembly, is likely to raise it to at least 12 to 14, with Muslims and Jats again coming together. Meanwhile, Mayawati has given 100 tickets to Muslims. She is likely to sweep western UP.  In such a scenario, the Congress is unlikely to fare as well as it was expected to do.

In the Yadav belt of central UP, the SP-Congress alliance is likely to do better. But here too, Shivpal Yadav, the disgruntled uncle of the UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, has vowed to take his revenge.  He can get the Yadav votes transferred to either the BJP or the BSP. He has already sent many of his followers to BSP, the last one being Mukhtar Ansari. Ansari is strong in east UP, but he can influence Muslim votes all over the state.

The BJP is banking on its traditional upper caste votes in east UP. Here, it will face competition from the Congress, which is working to get back its traditional upper caste votes. The BJP has worked overtime on the non-Yadav Other Backward Classes/Castes (OBC) vote. BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s selective attacks on the SP are a strategy to split the Muslim votes, who they think will vote for the SP-Congress. The BJP’s top duo is not attacking the BSP for fear that the Muslims will favour Mayawati.

In Uttarakhand, the BJP has all reasons to be confident. According to Tyagi’s opinion poll the ruling Congress is likely to get 23 to 28 seats, and the BJP 36 to 41 seats. The rest will get three to six seats.

It is the infighting within the party that will cost the Congress dear.  Here, it is mainly the Brahmin consolidation which was complete after Narain Dutt Tiwari quit the party to join the BJP, courtesy Chief Minister Harish Rawat. Rawat is alleged to have pushed the Brahmins into BJP, starting with Vijay Bahuguna.

Besides the Brahmin consolidation, the other issue boosting BJP’s fortunes in the hill state is that of the surgical strike. Surgical strike may not help the BJP anywhere but it is supposed to be a big issue in Uttarakhand because every family here has or had a member in the army.

(Views expressed in this article are those of the author, and they do not reflect the stand of this news website.)       [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

India News

BJP calls Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation announcement a PR stunt, says he wants his wife as CM

“The emotional and PR cards that he is playing is aimed at creating a Manmohan Singh-like system in Delhi as former Congress president Sonia Gandhi did,” the BJP leader charged.

Published

on

The BJP on Sunday called the announcement of resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the next two or three days a PR stunt saying his decision is a part of his plan to make his wife Sunita the CM.

BJP national spokesperson Shezad Poonwalla claimed that Kejriwal is enacting the resignation drama because the court did not acquit him in the excise policy scam case and instead granted him a conditional bail, which turned him into a ceremonial minister from the chief minister.

The AAP national convenor on Sunday announced that he will he resign as the Delhi CM in next two days and would demand early polls in Delhi. Kejriwal vowed not to sit in CM’s chair till people give him a certificate of honesty.

In a scathing attack, Poonwalla alleged that the AAP national convenor’s announcement is a part of his plan to make his wife Sunita Kejriwal the Chief Minister. “Arvind Kejriwal has done a PhD on how to make a virtue out of necessity,” he added.

While addressing party workers in Delhi today, Kejriwal said he would hold a meeting of AAP MLAs in the next couple of days and a party leader would take over as chief minister.

Hitting out at the Delhi Chief Minister, Poonwalla said, “He has taken two days’ time because his entire plan is to make his wife Sunita Kejriwal chief minister of Delhi in his place.”

“The emotional and PR cards that he is playing is aimed at creating a Manmohan Singh-like system in Delhi as former Congress president Sonia Gandhi did,” the BJP leader charged.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, people ensured the defeat of the AAP and the Congress in all seven seats despite the Kejriwal-led party’s ‘jail ka badla vote campaign’, he added.

Continue Reading

India News

In Jharkhand, PM Modi says development of tribals, poor, youth, women is Centre’s priority

He emphasised the significance of rail and other projects in fostering industrial, tourist, economic, and overall developmental growth in the eastern region.

Published

on

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted the central government’s commitment to the development of tribals, poor, Dalits, women, and youths, highlighting the launch of several schemes aimed at benefiting these groups.

He expressed optimism about Jharkhand’s rapid growth through the implementation of these projects, noting that the state, which had been lagging in development, is now set to progress.

While virtually addressing the audience gathered at Tatanagar for the inauguration of Vande Bharat trains and multiple initiatives, the Prime Minister acknowledged the impact of the bad weather which prevented his arrival in Tatanagar by apologizing for not being able to reach the location.

He emphasised the significance of rail and other projects in fostering industrial, tourist, economic, and overall developmental growth in the eastern region.

Modi highlighted the increased investment by the Centre for the development of Jharkhand, citing an allocation of Rs 7,000 crore for railway infrastructure development, which marked a 16-fold increase compared to the budget of the past 10 years.

Furthermore, he pointed out that Jharkhand has achieved 100% electrification of its railway network and mentioned the transformation of over 50 railway stations in the state under the Amrit Bharat Station Yojana.

Additionally, six Vande Bharat trains for Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh were virtually flagged off by the Prime Minister at Ranchi, with the presence of Union ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Annapurna Devi, Sanjay Seth, and Jharkhand Governor Santosh Kumar Gangwar at the Tatanagar station.

Meanwhile, Congress slammed PM Modi and said, “Why are people of Jamshedpur still facing the problem of poor connectivity?” Despite being an industrial hub, Jamshedpur suffers from poor transport connectivity, it added.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the number of trains running to major cities like Bhagalpur, Bengaluru and Delhi is not adequate. The city had a functional airport till 2016 but despite joining the UDAN scheme in 2018, the plan for a new airport did not materialise, he added.

“An MoU was signed between the Jharkhand government and the Airports Authority of India in January 2019 to build the Dhalbhumgarh airport by December 2022. This will give a good boost to MSMEs in Adityapur, including major players in the industrial sector like Tata. When the work did not happen by the December 2022 deadline, the BJP’s own MPs were forced to raise the issue in Parliament,” he charged.

On February 27, 2023, the Union Civil Aviation Minister responded and confirmed that the project had been abandoned, Ramesh said. “Now, after a lot of hard work, environmental clearances seem to be coming. Why did the central government ignore such a vital infrastructure in Jharkhand? What happened to “Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas”?” he asked.

Continue Reading

India News

After Kejriwal, AAP leader Manish Sisodia leaves it to people to decide on his honesty

The former Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia said that he has also decided to go to the public court along with AAP supremo Kejriwal and ask whether the public considers him honest or not.

Published

on

After Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia on Sunday asserted that he will sit on the chair of Deputy Chief Minister only if the public approves his honesty.

The former Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia said that he has also decided to go to the public court along with AAP supremo Kejriwal and ask whether the public considers him honest or not.

“I have also decided that I will go to the public court along with Arvind Kejriwal ji and ask whether the public considers me honest or not,” Sisodia said in his post on X.

In a major move on Sunday, Kejriwal announced that he will resign as the Delhi Chief Minister in the next two or three days and asserted that he won’t hold the position of CM, until the people of Delhi declare him honest.

Joining AAP supremo in his honesty test, Sisodia said that he came into politics to work honestly in the field of education. “For 10 years, I worked honestly as Delhi’s Education Minister and built schools and new universities,” Sisodia said.

As the Education Minister of Delhi, Sisodia said, he worked with the mantra that India cannot become a developed nation without providing the best education in government schools.

The result of ten years of hard work is visible that today even in the government schools of Delhi, children are studying brilliantly and topping exams like IIT, JEE, NEET, the senior AAP leader said.

After being in jail for 17 months in the money laundering case linked to the liquor policy scam, Sisodia said that despite being honest attempts were made to prove him dishonest by making false allegations against him under petty politics.

“After two years of legal process, now even the country’s top court has told me to go and do my work. But I will not sit on the chair of Deputy Chief Minister-Education Minister right now”, he said.

The AAP leader said that he did not join politics for the greed of chairs and posts, instead, he came into politics to work honestly in the field of education.

“Elections are to be held in three to four months. Only if the public approves my honesty, I will sit on the chair of Deputy Chief Minister-Education Minister and work for education,” AAP leader Sisodia said.

Continue Reading

Trending

© Copyright 2022 APNLIVE.com