Will decide the fate of Cong & BJP at the hustings
SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad
Although the BJP and the Congress are going to fight the next Lok Sabha elections fiercely, their fortunes depend on regional parties. In most states, regional parties have the upper hand over the BJP and the Congress.
While the BJP is in power on its own in Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat the BJP is in power in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Haryana, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Tripura and Puducherry through coalitions.
The Congress is in power in Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan on its own and through alliances in Bihar and Jharkhand. The BJP is losing power in states one after the other.The regional parties which are in power in the states are split between the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA.
Going by the present political situation there are no chances of the BJP or the Congress coming to power at the Centre on their own. The performance of regional parties in the next Lok Sabha elections will decide whether the BJP or the Congress will form the government.
The BJP is strong in northern states than the Congress while the Congress and its allies are strong in South India. In short, regional parties are going to decide the fate of the BJP and the Congress in the 2024 general elections.
The BJP is losing its image across the nation and in states where the BJP and the Congress are not strong enough regional parties are in power.
There are some regional and national parties which are in power in some states maintaining equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress.
The BRS of Telangana, the YSR Congress of Andhra Pradesh, the Biju Janata Dal of Odisha, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) units of Delhi and Punjab are in power.
Among these parties, the YSR Congress and the Biju Janata Dal are indirect supporters of the BJP. The AAP may join the opposition front depending on the response of the Congress to its demands. The BRS may take a decision after the Lok Sabha elections depending on the situation at that time.
In most of the states, regional parties are stronger than the BJP and the Congress. So the BJP and the Congress are trying to get more regional parties into their camps.
Opposition parties are trying to unite to fight the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections. Seventeen political parties have decided to fight the BJP jointly in the 2024 general elections. If this materialises in the next Lok Sabha elections in many states the fight will be between the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led UPA.
