RS polls divide rather than unite Congress

In Assam, BJP and Badruddin Ajmal-led AUDF join hands to protest candidature of Congress nominee Sanjay Singh

Rivalled only by the five Assembly elections that saw a rout of the Congress, the elections to the Rajya Sabha promise to be as contentious for the ruling party, which is leading the United Progressive Alliance.

Serious disquiet in Assam has seen disparate forces such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) led by perfume king Badruddin Ajmal join to protest the candidature of Sanjay Singh, the official nominee of the Congress.

AUDF is seen as a party championing the cause of Muslims, the vote bank of the Congress till the rise of Ajmal as a major force in the biggest northeastern state.

Ajmal’s rise was at first merely observed and ignored by Tarun Gogoi, the chief minister of Assam, until 2009, when he was forced to acknowledge him as a political adversary. Now under pressure, not the least because a rival within his own party, Himanta Biswa Sarma, has been increasingly challenging his hegemony in the party, Gogoi has been forced to accept that the AUDF could be a factor in Assam politics. However, the AUDF’s action in the context of the Rajya Sabha election, could have a long-term impact on alliance politics in the UPA.

In Haryana, the state government’s agreement on nominating Selja, a Dalit, to the Rajya Sabha tells its own story about the beleaguered Chief Minister, B S Hooda’s lack of political choices. There is a few months’ gap between the Haryana Assembly election and the Lok Sabha election. Hooda would prefer a maverick like Selja to be out of the Haryana power politics vortex where the issue of atrocities on Dalits is a burning one. Whether it is the burning of Dalit homes in Mirchpur or small, but steady incidents of atrocities on them — in most cases by Jats — all over Haryana, Selja has never made any secret of criticising these events. With the Rajya Sabha seat, she is thought to have been neutralised.

Rajya Sabha nominations promise to be divisive for the Congress, with several seniors scampering to find safe havens. For the first time in several years, the Congress is seen as being unable to leverage these seats as a way to influence allies and make friends.