While the country was in a deep dent due to China-induced Covid-19 along with Bihar struggling due to flood, the ex-JNU students’ Union leader Kanhaiya was busy building a script for his political career. The nowhere to be seen CPI (M) activist is expected to restart his new political journey soon.
Rumours have it that Kanhaiya Kumar, the alleged tainted leader is all set to join Congress Party. Recently he was seen having lunch with Nadeem Javed, the Congress leader and chairman of all India Minority Congress, the minority department of Indian National Congress. Nadeem has been handling a variety of portfolios inside the Congress party including NSUI, Indian Youth Congress, and media cell. Kanhaiya also had a series of meetings with Mr Rahul Gandhi and Prashant Kishore, the election strategist, and tactician.
Homeless Kanhaiya looking for a Home
After CPI (M) passed a censure motion against his indiscipline behaviour in January, the hot talks in political circles about his shifting parties caught acceleration. When the CPI leader organised his Jana Gana Mana rally on February 27, two congress leaders Shakeel Ahmed Khan and Awadhesh Singh were also sharing the stage with him. A Bihar Congress leader who wished not to be named claimed that negotiations between Kanhaiya and Congress are in the final stages. Though Kanhaiya has denied any prospect of him joining Congress, Congress leaders in the know claimed that Nadeem Jawed has been handed the responsibility of convincing Kanhaiya to join the Congress.
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Kanhaiya Kumar was once being touted as one of the bigwigs of opposition parties. He has been the main accused in the Delhi sedition row, where ‘Bharat Tere Tukde Honge’ slogans were raised under his presidency of the Student Union. Hyped by the media coverage of his trials, the Communist Party of India offered him a Lok Sabha ticket from his home district Begusarai. Begusarai has a reputation of being a den of violent Maoists and Naxalites. The media hype did not work on the ground and he was thrashed by BJP’s Giriraj Singh by more than 4,22,000 votes. The loss was so bad that Giriraj emerged victorious in Bihat ward (Ward where Kanhaiya Kumar has his house) and Safapur (the biggest booth of CPI). He was also booked for violation of the model code of conduct. In the 2020 Bihar assembly elections, Kanhaiya Kumar was not handed a ticket from any party.
Congress looking for a face
Congress has been on the losing streak for quite some time now. Having been wiped out in West Bengal and shrunk to a single-digit seat in UP, Congress has been looking to improve its Bihar prospects for quite some time now. It has no existence on its own in Bihar and only after allying with RJD and JDU in 2015, it could garner 27seats. As soon as JDU left, it shrunk to 19 seats. Congress is looking for a face in Bihar who could drive Public opinion in its favour. Kanhaiya being an unpopular leader at the ground level also has an image of being an anti-national and anti-armed force political activist, which will only bring in more troubles for Congress.
Congress will be intolerable workload for Kanhaiya
As his political life is gloomy, Kanhaiya Kumar is also looking for a better platform. If he joins the Congress, he will be burdened with improving Congress’ prospects in Bihar, which is a slim possibility. For Kanhaiya to benefit by Joining Congress, there needs to be a central leadership in the party under whose guidance, the lower-ranked leadership could flourish, as it happens in BJP. Many leaders who have left their parties and have joined BJP have garnered a lot of benefits under the central leadership of PM Modi. As for Kanhaiya, it can be said that- “an alliance with someone more powerful is never safe”.
With no such centralising figure in the Congress party and Kanhaiya Kumar himself at the tenterhooks, any alliance between Kanhaiya and Congress will turn into a lose-lose scenario for both.
