The Politician by Devesh Verma

Author:Devesh Verma [Verma, Devesh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788195084302
Publisher: Penguin Random House India Private Limited
Published: 2021-02-04T00:00:00+00:00

While Dixit ji was still comatose, Gupta, the former CM and leader of Opposition, sought an audience with the Governor. USP’s withdrawal of support to Baran Singh government had roiled the political waters in UP; with no party in a position to give a stable regime, midterm poll seemed the only recourse, which barring the socialists, nobody wanted because the current term of Legislative Assembly was hardly a few months old. There were whispers that Baran Singh and the Congress had reached an understanding. Finally, Gupta’s statement after meeting the Governor gave a quietus to the speculation about the fall of the government. It also scotched the threat of dissolution of the House any time soon, as Gupta had conveyed to the Governor that the Congress, the largest party in the Assembly, wasn’t keen on a special session. ‘Chaudhary Baran Singh can be asked to prove his strength on the floor of the House once the Assembly is in session a few months from now. What’s the rush? Let him run a minority government until then . . .’

The socialists were livid. Raj Narayan accused Baran Singh of being hand in glove with the Congress. ‘To retain the CM’s chair for a few months more . . . Chaudhary has become a pawn in the Congress’s campaign for the recapture of Lucknow. But we won’t sit quiet. Our party will put this period to good use. Our workers will fan out across the state, marshalling people against this subterfuge, the conspiratorial alliance between Gupta and Baran Singh. Soon we will hold a big rally in Lucknow.’ But before the socialists could make good this pronouncement, Dixit ji died, handing Baran Singh an occasion to drown out their threat. He declared three days of state mourning. Dixit ji was built up to be one of the foremost figures from UP.

The entire city came to a halt as the serpentine procession made its way amid slogan-shouting to the cremation ground. Baran Singh’s strategy worked; on top of that, the issue on which the USP was banking lacked the punch to rouse people; many of its own supporters did not appreciate the urgency of the stand the party had taken. In the meantime, Baran Singh—to expedite his plan to form his own party—called a meeting of his loyalists in and outside the government; he began with remembering, Dixit ji, ‘I can’t tell how terribly I miss my dear friend today. As some of you know, it was he who had first spoken about the need for a party of our own, and the idea was bolstered by his analysis of the votes polled by various parties and independents in the last election. Now is the moment we act on it.’

Many questions came up for discussion. The one that took the longest to resolve was that of naming the new outfit. The People’s Congress—the name of his faction in the coalition—Chaudhary Sahab rejected outright. He wanted something fresh, something with no trace of Congress; finally they settled for Indian Revolutionary Party (IRP).

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