Sunday, January 26, 2014

Have to agree with this view

as described by Anil Padmanabhan.

In the final analysis, it should be evident that Kejriwal is pursuing a deliberate strategy. The more he is cornered, especially a ganging-up by the organized political parties, the greater will be his appeal to his base and deeper the class conflict—and given the numerical superiority of the bottom of the pyramid, this is undoubtedly a challenge. Acknowledging his political acumen would be the first step for his opponents to derive the antidote for the new force of Indian politics. Mere hand-wringing and public rebukes of the AAP is living in denial and will achieve only the exact opposite outcome.
Arvind Kejriwal is playing clear politics in the name of "removing" politicking from the system. Until the major parties recognize this and handle him carefully Arvind's reputation among the poorer sections (who contribute to majority of the votes) will only be enhanced. At the end of the day Arvind Kejriwal entered into politics to come to power. Moreover, he is very astute in ensuring that happens. So, until the parties play their cards carefully 2014 elections will be a real messy - particularly for the BJP and Modi. There are three possibilities - a) AAP receives very few meaningful votes i.e. 10-15 seats all over the country, b) AAP reduces the Congress votes significantly assisting BJP in two competition seats and c) AAP gathers so many votes from the Congress and BJP groups that it wins a large number of seats (50-70) - becoming the king maker. Scenarios a and b are going to be ok for a stable govt at the center while scenario c will ensure a fractured mandate with a coalition government that will destroy already fragile economic situation in India.

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