By D N Singh
An obvious question that many political analysts are in an engaging time that, why the poll dates for the Gujarat Assembly are in a hold. Whereas, the same has been done in the case of Himachal Pradesh.
Is there a sense of fear in the BJP camp over the political ingress made by the Aam Admi Party to wrest Gujarat from the party in power there or it is a sense of uncertainty looms on the BJP.
Politics when seen through the prism of electoral battles, many things come into play.
It is clear that the AAP does not stand anywhere when compared with the BJP and its outreach. Not only it is in power in the country but Gujarat still remains to be its invincible fort.
But, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal who has a penchant for discovering new areas, has this time concentrated in Gujarat and both Kejriwal and Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia have focused on Gujarat for long.
There have been sustained campaigns, often hindered by the ED raids on Sisodia who earned an international recognition as an exemplary education minister.
Obviously there had to be some heart burns for the opposition and especially for the BJP who would in direct confrontation with the AAP.
In a way, it would be a battle between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal and all the more a prestige issue for the BJP.
Frequent raids by the CBI on Sisodia has been interpreted by many neutral political observers that, raids are being used as a means to deprive Sisodia from concentrating on Gujarat campaigns.
Although initial raids could not elicit any result against the deputy chief minister of Delhi and a day before, another nine hours marathon grilling of Manish Sisodia by the CBI has not brought anything against Sisodia to arrest him.
But, one thing appears clear that, such actions on someone earns a political undertone.
First, raids have not established anything concrete against Sisodia and secondly, the actions were initiated timed with the polls.
Which, according to political observers, smacks of politics.
Thirdly, Kejriwal has been continuing his campaign in Gujarat and he has unleashed a jitter for the opponents by saying that, the Intelligence reports predict a win for the AAP in Gujarat albeit with a thin margin.
Somewhere there is a serious thinking in the anti-AAP camp that, a fool proof strategy to be prepared before announcing the dates of polling in Gujarat.
Is there a fear psychosis about what happened in Punjab, because in the case of Gujarat, the Congress which is expected to play a key role in dividing the opposition votes, still maintains a studied silence much to the chagrin of the BJP. Congress’s soft pedaling in Gujarat against AAP can be ominous for its main rival.
