The Election Commission (EC)'s announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls – to be held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1 with results on June 4 – has set the stage for a grand battle between the ruling BJP and the Opposition INDIA alliance. On Sunday, the INDIA bloc will kickstart its poll campaign from Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park, marking the culmination of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. After traversing more than 6,700 km through 15 states over two months, Rahul's Yatra concluded on Saturday evening at the Chaitya Bhoomi, the memorial of B R Ambedkar in Mumbai. On Sunday morning, before the rally, Rahul will lead a Nyay Sankalp Padyatra from Mani Bhavan to August Kranti Maidan. In what is expected to be a show of strength of the INDIA bloc, the Mumbai rally will see the participation of top Opposition leaders including NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, Tamil Nadu CM and DMK chief M K Stalin, Jharkhand CM and JMM leader Champai Soren, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav, CPI(ML-L) general secretary Dipankar Bhattarchaya, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah, and Aam Aadmi Party leader Saurabh Bhardwaj as Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s representative. The Congress party's communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said an invitation has also been extended to Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar for the rally. In context: While Sunday’s rally gives the INDIA bloc an opportunity to put up a united face, the Congress has been struggling to build a political discourse and narrative that the BJP can be defeated and that the INDIA bloc can be its credible alternative, as reported by Manoj C G. The faltering alliance is yet to come up with a common programme, or articulate a clear governance agenda. Not even once has the bloc managed to bring all its top leaders together on one single public platform. The best case scenario, for many in the Congress, is a repeat of a 2004-like verdict, when the BJP’s “India Shining” campaign had come a cropper. As the BJP seals seat-sharing deals and announces candidates, the Opposition is playing catch-up with many internal issues yet to be ironed out behind the scenes. In West Bengal, for instance, after the TMC called off the alliance, tensions are rising between the Congress and the CPI(M) over extended seat-sharing negotiations ahead of a meeting of the Left parties on Sunday. Recommended reading: The Neerja Chowdhury Column: As his second Yatra ends, Rahul Gandhi clearly has come a distance – but what about his party? Modi’s poll push in South Meanwhile, the BJP has turned its focus on the southern states, where its presence remains limited outside Karnataka. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address a rally in Andhra Pradesh’s Palnadu district. This will be a joint rally of the BJP along with allies – former CM N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party – days after the three parties agreed to a seat-sharing deal for the state’s simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. After visiting Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Friday, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s home turf of Kalaburagi on Saturday, Modi will continue his campaign through Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Sunday, before returning to Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Monday. In context: In contrast to the INDIA bloc, the BJP has managed to balance its pulls and pressures to project a united face rallied behind Modi. Despite being in the pole position, the BJP has not left any stones unturned to see that its election machinery is well-oiled and stitched up alliances with various regional and smaller parties in the regions where its prospects are relatively weaker, as reported by Liz Mathew. In the 2019 polls, though the BJP had swept Karnataka and won a handful of seats in Telangana, it had failed to open its account in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. With its target of winning 370 seats in the Lok Sabha this time, the BJP is looking to new allies and inducting defectors in the hopes of expanding its influence in the region. – With PTI inputs
