New Delhi: The Congress is lacking a strategy to counter the BJP’s “Kashi card” which the saffron party played after Ayodhya, making it clear that Kashi, Mathura and Ayodhya continues to be on the agenda of the Sangh Parivar.
If the Ayodhya (Ram mandir) issue revived the BJP in the Hindi belt after its humiliating defeat in the 1984 Lok Sabha polls,the annou-ncement of Mr Narendra Modi’s candidature from Varanasi seat, would certainly enthuse the BJP cadre and consolidate its political constituency.
In order to foil the BJP’s “Kashi card” AICC managers said they would put up a celebrity to ensure that Mr Modi should not draw any mileage from Varanasi. But they are ignoring that their high profile nominee will not be a Prime Ministerial candidate like Mr Modi.
If the non BJP parties are serious to check Mr Modi in Varanasi, then they should field either a joint candidate or back a candidate who will give a tough fight to the BJP.
Significantly, the Samj-awadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati have not commented on Mr Modi’s candidature so far.
But the Congress is not the only party which is finding it difficult to check Mr Modi’s march towards Delhi, but the SP and the BSP too are seen helpless.
On the other hand, the UPA is shrinking contrary to the Congress? claim that the alliance will come to power for a third time after May 16.
This is because the Congress is lacking an initiative to unite anti-BJP parties. Its Maha-rashtra leaders are predicting that the UPA experiment would be over after the Lok Sabha polls.
The party lacks friends in West Bengal,Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with smaller parties too are unwilling to have pre poll alliances with the party leading the UPA at the Centre since 2004.
