Why has Prime Minister Narendra Modi been talking about conducting early elections to Lok Sabha these days, when he has sufficient mandate in Lok Sabha to rule the country for a full-term?
Veteran Congress leader and former Union minister S Jaipal Reddy has the answer.
“The reason is very simple. Very soon, there would be elections to three states – Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is going to lose all the three states. And that will have a cascading effect on the prospects of the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections. Modi does not want to face the electorate with a handicapped image,” Reddy said.
Speaking to a new agency, the former Union minister said if the Lok Sabha elections were held simultaneously with the three assembly elections, Modi could avoid humiliation to some extent as he could attribute it to a nationwide scenario.
“He does not want to face the elections with the stigma of being a loser in three BJP ruled states. He does not want take the responsibility for the defeat there,” Reddy said, adding, “after that, BJP as a losing party will be emphasised”.
On the electoral strategy of the opposition to be taken on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, Reddy said all the anti-BJP forces must try to come together before the polls.
“They (anti-BJP forces) will surely come together after the polls. But they should come together before the polls, because unity before the polls will get larger number of seats,” he said.
In the states where the Congress and anti-BJP regional parties could not reach an agreement, they would fight it out but “reach a unity” after the polls. But there are very few such states, Reddy added.
