Satraps eye hard bargain with Congress

Hyderabad: Between them, regional party chiefs in six states — K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, Naveen Patnaik, Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav — are all set to call the shots in over 185 seats or one-third of the Lok Sabha and emerge as “game changer” in the post-poll scenario.

They want to hedge their bets till the Lok Sabha results are declared on May 23. Though it is unlikely that these six parties will support the BJP, they seem poised to drive a hard bargain with the Congress.

Sources close to Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that he was confident that the Biju Janata Dal, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the YSR Congress Party, the Trinamul Congress and the Samajwadi Party, would join the TRS in making the maximum out of a deal with the Congress.

Sources said that as per the analysis of Mr Rao after his preliminary talks with Ms Banerjee and Mr Patnaik, the two leaders are not prepared to leave their native states nor are they keen on staking claim for the Prime Minister’s post.

In public, however, Ms Banerjee and Ms Mayawati have adopted postures that suggest they are aiming for the top job.

As per the analysis of Mr Rao, the Congress’ prospects are bleak in Odisha where the BJP is emerging as the main Opposition party. Mr Patnaik will certainly not go with the BJP after the elections and would opt to support the Congress to weaken the BJP.

In Uttar Pradesh, despite the alliance with the Congress falling through, the SP-BSP grouping will move towards the party after the elections.

In Andhra Pradesh, it is worth mentioning that in a recent interview Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy had said that he had “forgiven” the Congress and claimed that he had no feeling of “vengeance” against the party.

Mr Rao explained to his party leaders that in such circumstances the six parties working together would emerge as “game changer” in the post-poll scenario, a source said.

Sources said that Mr Rao explained that Ms Banerjee is not so keen on Congress president Rahul Gandhi becoming the Prime Minister. That is why she very categorically told AP chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that they should wait for election results.

Andhra Pradesh has 25 Lok Sabha seats, Telangana 17, Uttar Pradesh 80, Odisha 21, and West Bengal 42, totalling 185. In the 2014 elections, the BJP had won 71 seats in UP but this time the SP-BSP alliance is likely to prevent a repeat.

Mr Rao visualises that if the Congress and its UPA partners look for a alternative leader for Prime Minister other than Mr Gandhi, the SP-BSP combine may project Ms Mayawati the for Prime Minister’s post.

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