Vinod Dhawan
If Mamata Didi is planning to become Prime Minister of India, we have seen a trailer. Imagine the PM of India sitting on dharna! It will be international news. If that is the qualification for becoming Prime Minister then she has got some competition. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is a past master at dharnas as part of which he slept on the road on a winter night in Delhi. Mericfully he had a few blankets on. But soon after he had to leave for Kerala to undergo some Ayurvedic treatment. The temperature in Kolkata at the time of Mamata Didi’s dharna was quiet comfortable. So even the gods are on her side and she stands a better chance than Kejriwal.
But wait. We have a phalanx of PM aspirants. How about Behen Mayawati. Elephant is her election symbol. So as in Uttar Pradesh while she was Chief Minister, she will install elephants on all roads leading to her house and Parliament House. The famous Mughal Gardens will have elephants growing beside every flower bed. To beat all other aspirants, she will have an elephant installed on top of India Gate.
Next please. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) is still basking in his success at his overwhelming victory in the Assembly elections. Emboldened he has been approaching regional leaders to discuss the 2019 election quietly promoting himself as the neutral candidate who doesn’t ally with either the BJP or the Congress. Still to be on the safe side, he has also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi with some gifts. Gifts are his forte. KCR seems to have stolen a march in pleasing gods by donating gold ornaments worth Rs 5 crore to the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara. Some people on Twitter called it a bribe. After being anointed prime minister he would be offering gold to Pakistan to save its economy and thus leave Kashmir alone. Great tactician.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has also thrown his hat in the ring. Durng his chief ministership of Uttar Pradesh, his native village of Saifai in Etawah district developed by leaps and bounds. It now has 24-hour power supply, well-laid sewage system, concrete roads, an air strip, a medical institute, a nursing and paramedical institute, several colleges and plush guest houses of several government departments. In 2016, Mulayam Singh further ordered a complete makeover of Saifai with a package of Rs 300 crore. With such a socialist at the helm who knows as prime minister he will shift the national capital to Saifai!
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar is an old hat in politics and his hat has always been in the ring. He broke away from the Congress opposing Sonia Gandhi’s leadership because of her foreign origin. But now he is all praise for her. Pawar is one politician who can be in any grouping, so adaptable is he. Don’t be surprised he might offer to lead a BJP led coalition in case the ruling party doesn’t come up with the required numbers.
If experience be the only criterion then JD (S) chief HD Deve Gowda has the best chance as he has served as PM for 11 months in 1996. The problem is he was often found dozing in Parliament. Would you like our PM dozing while talking to Trump or Putin?
Oops! We forgot Rahul Gandhi!
