CAN POLITICAL PARTIES SUSTAIN ELECTIONEERING FOR OVER A YEAR?

Chandigarh November 29:

            Has Manpreet Singh Badal been the instigator for both the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress to be in the election mode more than a year before the 2012 Assembly poll?

Though it may be too early for the consolidation and polarisation of political forces for the next elections, Jago Punjab Yatra by Manpreet from Faridkot last week has put both the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress on the alert. An important factor for the early start to the electioneering for the 2012 Assembly poll may be the coming elections to the apex body of Sikhs - the SGPC.

According to indications available, the general house elections of the SGPC might be completed by the end of the first quarter of the New Year. The results of the SGPC poll will have a long bearing on the 2012 Assembly poll. Now even Manpreet has started indicating that he and his men would challenge the SAD supremacy in the SGPC also. The battle for the 2012 Assembly poll will once again veer around two major political stalwarts - Parkash Singh Badal and Capt Amarinder Singh. They will be joined among others by Sukhbir Singh Badal and Manpreet Singh Badal.

Though many expect Sukhbir to play a bigger role in the next elections, he will find himself mainly confined in countering his cousin, Manpreet. Whatever be the factors, the state is all set to witness some fierce political activity in the coming months before the actual or formal start to electioneering. The Congress has a reason to plan a series of roadshows for its new president Capt Amarinder Singh to be face to face with workers at the grassroots level, the ruling SAD-BJP alliance plans rallies and roadshows for projecting the “developmental works” it has undertaken since coming to power in early 2007.

While Manpreet plans to cover 71 Assembly constituencies in 110 days with 11-day break in January, it may not be easy for any political party to sustain a campaign for that long and that too so long before the poll. The ruling alliance plans some joint rallies in different parts of the state to showcase its achievements. Manpreet will no longer be required to spend days and nights in January and February with the Finance and Planning teams to give finishing touches to the budgetary proposals. Instead, he will be spending this time touring length and breadth of the state, for awakening people about putting Punjab’s fiscal health and ways and means to put the economy back on the track.

On the other hand, the new Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur will have to orchestrate the 2011-2012 crucial Budget not only to “nullify Manpreet factor” but also to keep the next elections in mind. The Budget session will also give the Opposition, Congress, an opportunity to put across agenda for the state for the next five years by picking failures of the present regime. It is not for the first time that the state has been witnessing beehive in electioneering long before the actual poll. Even last time, Akalis had taken the lead in naming the candidates long before the election process was set in motion. The only difference was that at that time it was in the Opposition.

For the Opposition to sustain a long election campaign is easier than for the ruling alliance or the party. The Opposition remains on look out for opportunities it could accuse the ruling party of misusing its official machinery so as to keep it on the defensive.