Head start for Kuldeep Rai Sharma The All India Congress committee has declared Kuldeep Rai Sharma, President, A&N Territorial Congress Committee as its Candidate for the lone Lok Sabha seat for the A&N Islands parliamentary constituency. Kuldeep, this time around was fortunate to find himself on the first list released by the party on 07.04.2014 along with 193 other candidates from elsewhere. The A&N islands go to polls on the 10th of April 2014. With the main opposition party of the incumbent MP, the Bharatiya Janta Party still struggling to announce its candidate for the islands, Kuldeep has got a head start and has gone all out to campaign for his candidature. Without much competition this time around from within the party by other aspirants for the Congress seat, Kuldeep had it easy so far. P.K.Haldar and G. Bhaskar who were also vying for the seat fell around by the wayside due to want of support or official recommendation from the District Congress Committees and the ANTCC. Kuldeep has total control of the organization in the Islands with his supporters holding important posts in all the frontal organizations of the Congress leaving no scope for anyone but him to find favour with the local unit of the party. The high command gave nod to the recommendation of the local units of the party. Last time around the Bhakta – Kuldeep tussle for the seat and the delay in its declaration by the AICC had cost the party dearly. Despite the delay in declaration of the seat in the 2009 general elections, many believe it was Kuldeep’s best chance to have won the seat, had he managed the elections better. UPA-2 came to power against all odds at the Centre and had he won, Kuldeep could have found himself in a different league altogether, maybe even a ministerial berth as a Minister of State. Last time around his margin of defeat was something he could have well managed, despite not being a visible face of the Congress for the common islander. People were yearning for change and were about to write off the ageing and sick MR Bhakta, 8 time MP from the Islands. Even Kuldeep knows how close he was into getting onto a position from where he could have changed the politics of the Islands for a long time to come. This time around, even by a staunch Congress supporter’s claim it all boils down as to who gets the BJP ticket. Verdict would certainly be fractured and Congress does not seem to be getting there at the Centre. An MP without his party leading the Central Government is as good as small public representative who is at the mercy of the bureaucrats. Kuldeep can take solace from the fact that elections are won by the work of the cadres at the grass root level, and his grand old party has a strong base among the PRI’s and ULB’s especially when it boils down to numbers. It’s to be seen how he utilizes his demoralized cadres at grass roots, who due to the excesses of the administration (by putting a tight leash on the PRI’s and ULB’s) appear to be dazed. Time will also tell whether the personal conduct of his cadres with regards to their own corruption and mis-deeds at the local level gets him votes. Their integrity is always being questioned over the sincerity these cadres show when it comes to their own elections than compared to the MP election. Money plays an important role in elections and there is no dearth of it with the Congress or the BJP. It all boils down to the fact, how and through whom they spend it. Last time around Kuldeep’s financial management was a mess and he was even accused of being both miserly with party fund and other donations or was misled by fund managers/ disbursers who themselves pocketed majority of the spoils. Since the last elections in 2009, Kuldeep has become the sole power centre of the Congress. He has become visible and has utilized various social and other organizations under him to the hilt for garnering public support. He has worked with the women electorate especially of the poorer sections with livelihood issues at the micro level. He has concentrated his attention largely in appeasement of the linguistic majority who call all the shots in the elections. He has held sway the religious minorities by being involved in their functions and other issues. He has stayed in limelight by being in the media on a sustained basis. He has got time in his hands and is trying to utilize it to the full compared to other parties. The elections, this time is fought on a plethora of issues dominated mostly by price rise, corruption, governance and youth centric issues of employment. Kuldeep’s views on the above main issues are important and how he plans to tackle them. He has plans for the youth and their employment concerns. His Party’s incumbent government at the centre has launched many populist schemes over the last decade and has laid out doles to the Govt. servants a plenty. It’s interesting to see how he cashes on these especially from the ungrateful and corrupt Govt. employees having high seats of power. Despite the head start, road ahead for Kuldeep is no cake walk. His detractors are everywhere. Last Administrator’s leanings will haunt him for some time to come. Various developments in the Islands for a common citizen’s good like the Quarry explosive haul issue, Buffer Zone etc have gone bad for Kuldeep personally irrespective of him having any role in them. The wrangling at PBMC or Zilla Parishad has also hurt him if he has tried to mediate in arriving at a solution which looks partisan. Kuldeep when isolated of his leanings, advisors and associates is a qualified smart young man who has not been given a chance as yet by the electorate to prove himself. Based on assumptions, he has been written off at times as to what will happen if he his wrested with power, but maybe this time around he will finally cross the coveted line and change people’s perceptions. The underdogs are waiting in the wings to spring up a surprise or two and Kuldeep cannot afford to undermine their challenges as they can put a serious dent on his prospects.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 05:21:53 +0000
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