From Apple to AAP; Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson, Adarsh Shastri, leaves plush job to join Kejriwal’s party

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has found for itself another admirer and that too not an ordinary one but the grandson of former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Adarsh Shastri.

Adarsh (40) who joined the AAP on Friday is also the son of Congress leader Anil Shastri and was the head of sales for Apple in Western India. The unconditional support provided by the Congress to the AAP to form the government in Delhi paves way for Adarsh as a high-profile enlist in the party that takes pride in flaunting the broom.

When asked, Adarsh said that his decision to join the party was solely based on personal conviction. He added that though he had a cushy life with a great company but somehow it did not feel right. He felt inspired by Kejriwal and compelled by the AAP leader to do more.

Adarsh who felt interested in the policies and outlook of the AAP around seven months ago quit his job in the first week of December.

Meanwhile, the Congress leader and father of Adarsh, Anil Shastri talked about the possibility of the AAP changing his son’s way of thinking. Though none of his sons showed any political inclination in the past, he feels that his son should go ahead with his decision if he feels it right.

Adarsh has not been assigned any specific role by the AAP. Also Adarsh who had campaigned for his father in 1989, 1991 and 1996 for Varanasi, Allahabad and Indore seats is ready to contest the Lok Sabha elections if his party allows him to do so.

Adarsh has over 15 years’ experience in the telecom sector and comes from a known political lineage.

The unusual change from a corporate job to donning the cap for a newbie political party facing numerous challenges to fulfill the expectations of the common man may leave the newcomer look for new strategies to make his stint in the political arena successful.

Samajwadi Party plays ‘Bharat Ratna to Ch. Charan Singh’ card to appease the lost Jat vote bank

In a damage control mode following Muzaffarnagar riots, Samajwadi Party which has lost a bulk of their Muslim vote bank, now plans to woo them back into their fold by asking the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to consider the name of Chaudhary Charan Singh as the next recipient of the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) found itself on a sticky wicket after the Muzaffarnagar riots which left 62 people dead and hundreds of families displaced. More so, the Samajwadi Party may have to bear the wrath of the Jats during the coming Lok Sabha elections due to the so-called Muslim face of the party, Azam Khan, claiming that the clashes were the doing of the fascist forces that wanted to shake the sense of security of Muslims in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Azam Khan’s order to the police to go slow in controlling the riots in Muzaffarnagar did not go down too well with the Jat community there. Considering that the Muzaffarnagar riots had two consequences, political and administrative, that could turn the wheel of power in BJP’s favour, the SP has turned to playing the Bharat Ratna as a political football by appealing to the government to bestow the award to Chaudhary Charan Singh, a former Jat icon. The former Prime Minister was known for his association with causes dear  to farming communities in the North.

Keeping the coming Lok Sabha elections in mind, Shivpal Singh Yadav, general secretary of SP and PWD minister of Uttar Pradesh, has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding Bharat Ratna for the late leader.

Earlier the Assam unit of SP in 2008 had demanded that the award be given to Mulayam Singh Yadav citing him the only secular leader in the leader who has worked with the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jai Prakash Narayan, and Ram Manohar Lohia.

Rajendra Chaudhary, spokesperson of the SP, confirming that the party has indeed demanded the award for Charan Singh, said that the late Jat leader was politically very close to Mulayam.

Chaudhary added, ‘‘Charan Singh took forward the legacy of (Samajwadi Party ideologue) Ram Manohar Lohia. He used to say in his lifetime that Mulayam will take forward his legacy. A life-size statue of the Jat leader was erected in front of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha when Mulayam was the chief minister. He had also inaugurated a degree college at Etawah’s Saifai in the memory of the former PM.’’

It is not the first move that the SP had played to win back the support of the Jat community. With leaders from other political parties including SP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) warming up to the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), after the riots in Western Uttar Pradesh, the SP is experiencing a dent in its vote bank since RLD leader Chaudhary Babulal, a former minister in the earlier Mulayam Singh Yadav government enjoys considerable clout in the dominant Jat community.

With Jat community leaning towards the BJP, the SP had earlier decided to announce the birth anniversary of the former PM (December 23) as a public holiday.

From projection to protection

The resounding performance of the Aam Aadmi Party over the Congress candidate, Sheila Dikshit and the poll results clearly depicting an ignominious defeat of the Congress party, it is no secret that the Congress party will now hurriedly shift its focus from projecting Rahul Gandhi as the party leader to protecting the Gandhi scion from criticism for the assembly poll fiasco.

The Congress, till date, citing higher voter-turnout as an indication of the anti-incumbency factor may suddenly shift to declaring that anti-incumbency is a state-specific matter.

While the party leaders may debate on the line that the party’s failure at the assembly elections are not a reflection of Rahul’s leadership qualities, it is clear that the Congress decimation in nearly every state will shift its focus on shielding Rahul Gandhi from critical assessment at the hands of the media and condemnation from the public.