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00:06 Hello there, welcome to this brand new content on your much loved station, One India.
00:13 This is called Poll Vault with Pankaj.
00:16 Why we chose to name this as Poll Vault?
00:18 Because there are so many ups and downs happening in this election season
00:22 that one would wonder that whether the politicians are actually politicians
00:27 or they are also choosing their goal posts based on the fortunes of a particular political party.
00:36 Now the election scenario is heating up and the opposition parties are struggling
00:42 to form a credible joint front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP.
00:49 The India grouping made many headlines initially of their coming together,
00:54 then separation, then seat distribution and everything.
00:57 Now this was seen as a promising platform to challenge the BJP,
01:01 but it took a fresh blow when the ruling Trinamool Congress,
01:05 the TMC in West Bengal, very crucial, spoke in the wheel of this whole India alliance.
01:11 It left the Congress party out of pre-poll seat sharing
01:15 and announced its own candidate for all the 42 seats in the state.
01:20 Remember, West Bengal forms a huge, a major chunk, as does Bihar,
01:25 where the BJP tries to find its way but struggles to gain ground.
01:31 The opposition Amadvi Party also decided to go solo in Punjab,
01:35 again another prominent state where it sees itself the dominant player,
01:39 especially because it came to power in the assembly elections also.
01:43 But finally, later on, it struck a seat sharing pact with Congress in Delhi.
01:48 Such divisions within the India bloc do not bode well for the opposition
01:54 and have given the BJP a clear lead in the free poll arrangements,
01:58 even though it expects to win power on its own.
02:01 On the other hand, the BJP has managed to stitch three crucial alliances in past few days
02:07 and is looking to form more.
02:09 The BJP's alliance push carries Prime Minister Narendra Modi's touch,
02:12 who is involved in every little aspect of the poll planning,
02:15 from ticket distribution to the narrative to the outreach to the masses.
02:20 Modi has managed to reel in even those partners who abused him personally in the past
02:26 in the service of the larger cause of the winning.
02:29 The TDP and the JGU are the two former allies who have returned to the NDA ranks.
02:34 Nitesh Kumar, who split from the BJP in 2015,
02:37 specifically on the ground of Modi being named the BJP's prime ministerial candidate,
02:42 returned to NDA after Modi invited him to join.
02:45 This turned around in Nitesh Kumar's stance towards the BJP came about after Modi took the lead.
02:51 Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, the TDP, whose supremo,
02:54 Chandrababu Naidu, had described Modi as a "hardcore terrorist" in April 29,
03:00 later on faced jail time also, has now returned to the NDA ranks.
03:05 Many say that it is because of the term that Chandrababu Naidu served in jail.
03:11 Albeit it came at the hands of the state government of Andhra Pradesh, led by the YSR CP party.
03:20 The BJP has also ensured cordial relations with the Biju Janata Dal in Odisha.
03:26 Now, this is a very critical aspect here.
03:28 The BJD, especially Naveen Patnaik, hasn't been a vocal critique of Prime Minister.
03:33 Neither he has sided with the BJP openly as well.
03:37 Now, this is an interesting turn of events, which could see a mutually agreeable tie-up,
03:44 despite BJP's own rise in the state.
03:47 For any party to form an alliance with a regional state comes at a cost of
03:51 whether it has to live in the shadow of that particular regional party.
03:54 And this is the time when you see some MLAs or MPs switching fronts also,
04:00 maybe trying to fancy their chances with a ruling dispensation or a bigger party,
04:06 which their own party might not have that kind of charisma.
04:10 The BJP has not yet given up on its former ally AIADMK in Tamil Nadu,
04:15 also down south and is working on tie-ups with its small breakaway factions,
04:19 as well as other parties and groups in the state.
04:22 Now, every addition to the BJP's alliance solidifies their bulwark,
04:28 even if some worry about the state of democracy in country within the opposition thus diminished.
04:34 Modi has not yet hit the right campaign note.
04:38 He is still testing the waters, though he has made it a point to visit states
04:42 where the BJP is seen as weak, including West Bengal, the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Telangana,
04:48 Odisha, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, with Andhra Pradesh and Kerala next on his itinerary.
04:54 During these visits, the Prime Minister has announced projects worth almost Rs 20 lakh crore
05:00 and has instructed ministers to be ready with a 100-day programme focusing around Vixit Bharat.
05:06 The strategic move by the BJP has not gone unnoticed,
05:10 and the opposition bloc needs to quickly sort out their internal squabbles
05:15 to come up with a credible joint front to take on the BJP.
05:19 Now, why this is very important? Because if we look at the scenario that are unfolding within the Congress ranks,
05:25 then there are two-fold challenges that the Congress faces.
05:29 First one is to keep the India bloc intact because Congress being the largest party as far as this bloc is concerned.
05:38 And secondly, to keep his own party members intact because lots of them have chosen to join ranks with the BJP.
05:46 Still, it's going on and with each passing day, you never know if one or the other top Congress leader would be switching sides to the BJP.
05:56 We'll keep a close eye on that poll vault.
05:59 We'll come back with another analysis on how and when the BJP would be able to breach the bastion.
06:07 All along, we have seen the BJP trying to make inroads into Tamil Nadu, into Kerala,
06:12 by its party workers greeting and meeting the local communities there,
06:18 trying to appease them with Christmas celebrations, too, Ramzan and Eid celebrations.
06:24 All of it is happening as India enters closer to the general elections,
06:30 the all-important event that is going to decide whether it is going to be Modi 3.0 this time around or not,
06:38 or whether BJP would romp back home to power, or the India bloc would be able to topple,
06:46 if not also give a good challenge to the BJP.
06:50 Stay here, watch this space, more news and analysis coming on 1India News.
06:55 For more information, visit www.indianews.com
