Anita Katyal | Chouhan leads BJP chief race? Yogi, Shivpal exchange jibes

The Biju Janata Dal MP Mamata Mohanta’s decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party has set alarm bells ringing in regional parties like the YSR Congress Party which fear the BJP will wean away more members from the Opposition in order to shore up its numbers in the Upper House. The BJP was, so far, comfortably placed in the Rajya Sabha as it could always depend on the 20 members of the BJD and the YSR Congress Party to vote in its favour on major bills. However, the situation has now changed. Both these parties have declared their intention to sit in the Opposition benches, narrowing the gap between the National Democratic Alliance and the INDIA alliance bloc, putting them almost at par. The BJP’s parliamentary managers will have to work doubly hard to garner the numbers each time there’s a crucial vote in the Rajya Sabha. Consequently, the BJP is learned to be identifying vulnerable MPs in the BJD and the YSR Congress Party who can be persuaded to cross over. The Aam Aadmi Party is also said to be on its radar. A beginning has already been made with Mamata Mohanta. Others may follow.

Bhubaneshwar Kalita, former Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, who surprised everyone by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019, has settled down well in his newly-adopted party. Unlike several Congress leaders who found it difficult to adjust to the BJP’s style of functioning, Mr Kalita has no such problems. He admits that his case is different as his home state Assam has seen a steady exodus of Congress workers to the BJP. This was particularly so after Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also a former Congress leader, crossed over to the BJP. Since the BJP was only a marginal presence in Assam, most of its current workers and ministers in the Sarma government are from the Congress. So for Mr Kalita and others like him, little has changed as they continue to be among old friends and colleagues.

Parliamentarians, cutting across party lines, privately admit that they miss the old times when they could interact freely with each other over a cup of coffee or even a meal. The Central Hall in the old Parliament building was a perfect venue for such chit chat sessions. In fact, that was one place where political opponents could sit together without anyone attributing any motive to these get-togethers. But the new building has made no provision for such a place where MPs from different parties can meet and indulge in light-hearted banter. A conscious effort seems to have been made to keep them apart as the BJP leadership apparently wants its MPs to keep a safe distance from their political opponents. Maybe, it is for this reason that women BJP MPs who had initially confirmed their presence at a tea party hosted for them by the Indian Women’s Press Corps last week did not show up. Among those who did drop by were Selja and Renuka Choudhary from the Congress, Priyanka Chaturvedi from Shiv Sena, NCP’s Fouzia Khan and Mahua Majhi from JMM.

While the Opposition and the Treasury benches in Parliament are constantly locked in confrontation, surprisingly, it is a different story in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Last week when Mata Prasad Pandey, the newly-appointed leader of Opposition, put a question to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the latter began by congratulating the veteran Samajwadi Party leader on his elevation and then went on to recount his long stint in politics. The chief minister then took a friendly swipe at Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav, saying he had once again been left high and dry by his nephew. Shivpal Yadav took this gentle ribbing in his stride, pointing out that he had also been associated with the BJP which too had let him down. He was referring to his brief flirtation with the saffron party when he fell out with Akhilesh Yadav.