Long shots have been fired in different political persuasions

By O.J.George

Amar Singh is out in the cold, having been ousted from the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Amar Singh himself had absolved himself of party positions earlier. The dismissal was only a party formality. What kind of politics he would be following from now would be amusing.Sometimes he cosies up to the Congress, and at other times to some other parties.

Sensing the precarious situation arising from the shadow of support having been lost in the Samajwadi Party or so Amitabh Bacchan, who is one of the closest confidantes of Amar Singh, has freshly been friendly with Gujarat’s Chief Minister Narendra Modi of the BJP.

Perhaps nothing need to be read into with regard to this overture. Maybe, Amitabh Bacchan’s branding as the brand ambassador of Modi’s Gujarat is mere coincidence. His wife, Jaya Bacchan, has already expressed her wish to continue as MP of Samajwadi Party.

Now a hue and cry has been going on in Maharashtra about who owns Mumbai and who all can live and work in Mumbai. Shiv Sena and MNS want to isolate the people claiming it is the fiefdom of the Maharashtrians. And in the bargain, they don’t mind charging against Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan or any other personality.

Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar, who was smarting under criticism from various quarters, particularly from the Congress, called on Bal Thackeray to persuade him to allow Australian cricket men to play in IPL 3.
It seems he has left the meeting ground open.

One should understand the strongpoint of Narendra Modi for calling a spade a spade,whatever his convictions. He lavished encomiums on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P.Chidambaram during the Chief Ministers’ conference held in New Delhi.

He had also criticised the UPA government for causing price rise etc.

For the CPM, Assembly elections in West Bengal and Kerala, due in 2011, are crucial. Kerala has panchayat elections in 2010, some sort of a curtain- raiser for the Assembly elections.

There may not be a parallel angle between panchayat and Assembly elections with regard to the outcome, as the parameters are different. But the fact that the CPM has postponed its Party Congress to January 2012 underscores the importance it attaches to the 2011 Assembly elections.

In Tamil Nadu, Congress appears to have doled out a squirming to the DMK by simply showing signals about a meeting point between Sonia Gandhi and DMK’s archrival Jayalalithaa.

Perhaps Congress is reading the predicament ahead, with an ailing Karunanidhi willing to hand over power most probably to his son Stalin, to the chagrin of another son Azhagiri. An internally squabbling DMK may not be considerably useful to the Congress in 2014, when the Gandhi scion, Rahul, is expected to take up the country’s reins.

In Andhra Pradesh, the scenario would be entirely different, with Telengana being carved out of it without much delay. What would be the fate of parties like Telugu Desam has to be watched carefully.

Long shots have already been fired in different political entities, but then it does not need much time for politics to take an entirely different path than the anticipated one on quick-jerk reactions.