Who can be an alternate to modi?

, June 26, 2018, 2 Comments

Narendra Modi-MarketExpressWith less than one year to go for the next general elections people have started asking who will be the next Prime Minister. Is an alternate to Modi anywhere in sight? Will BJP come back to power and Modi continue as India’s PM? Will an alternate political formation assume power after the general elections and if so who can lead that government. There are any number of aspirants for the PM’s post. But who can emerge as a credible alternate. This is going to be our subject of discussion here.

Congress is considered to be the only other national party in India other than BJP and hence its leader has a claim for the PM post. Rahul Gandhi is a fine person. Very lovable. The Congress party is by and large in favour of his assuming the PM’s post. He has been travelling the length and breadth of the country. His target of criticism is most often the PM himself. The BJP is fond of ridiculing him and has showered tons of abuse on this Congress leader. With so much of abuse showered upon him he could become the ‘Cinderella’ whom the fairies choose to favour.

Sharad Pawar has been a long standing veteran of Indian politics and cannot be ignored as a prospective candidate for the PM post. He has everything in him to become the national leader. The most important factor that goes against Pawar is his age. Many would consider that his best days are over and he best remains in retirement at present.

Mamta Banerjee is a fire-brand politician whom many people see as suitable to occupy the PM chair. She is a leader of prominence and her party is bound to capture a large number of seats in the next Lok Sabha elections. But people wonder whether she will end up as a runner up rather than the victorious one.

Having broken away from the NDA fold, Chandrababu Naidu can also nurture ambitions of becoming the PM. He would be another person from the south and from Andhra Pradesh after Narasimha Rao to occupy the PM post if it turns out to be so. Again the question arises whether he will become the winner or one among the runner ups.

Mayawati is the next possible aspirant for the PM post. A major factor going in her favour is that she is a leader of the backward castes. But her party may not be able to win sufficient number of seats in the elections to support her claim for the leadership role.

Akilesh Yadav is the next leader from UP who can aspire to become PM. He is a friend of the Congress supremo Rahul Gandhi which is a factor going in his support. His party may fight the next Lok Sabha elections in alliance with Mayawati’s BSP.

Nitish Kumar could have been a prominent face among those aspiring for the PM post. But having sided with the BJP he will neither be supported by the BJP nor the rest of the parties for the race to become PM. But for his miscalculations he would have been one of the front runners for the PM post.

P Chidambaram was a most suitable candidate to challenge Modi. But the BJP has so badly tarnished his image through the legal route that his own party will now find it difficult to support him.

Shashi Tharoor is another leader of the Congress Party whom the ruling establishment has strangulated through the legal route. But age is in favour of this young leader and he may one day be able to make claims for national leadership.
Kapil Sibal has everything in him to aspire for national leadership. But as things stand today he is in runner up position even within his own party.

Jyotiraditya Scindia is another prominent face in the Congress Party who can nuture prime ministerial ambitions. However, it is possible that his chances of becoming PM lie somewhere in the future and not in 2019.

Sachin Pilot also has the making of a prime ministerial candidate in him. But this young leader of the Congress Party has to wait for many more years before he becomes ripe to nuture the ambitions of becoming a PM.

The race for PM in 2019 has begun. Rahul Gandhi can be considered to be in the lead among non-BJP candidates. His strength lies in the strength of his party. In the next Lok Sabha elections Congress is likely to emerge as the second largest party after BJP. So if a non-BJP coalition is to form the government at the center, they will find it impossible to reject the claim of the leader of the largest party in coalition to become PM.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of MarketExpress – India’s first Global Analysis & Sharing Platform or the organization(s) that the author represents in his personal capacity.