Much titter and eye-roll have accompanied the suggestion by two chief ministers of a prime ministerial candidate that no one is really RaGa about. Part of I.N.D.I.A., West Bengal and Delhi CMs Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal have suggested Mallikarjun Kharge as the oppositional startup’s candidate for the top job. The Congress president and leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha doesn’t quite tick the boxes we have come to tick when thinking pradhan mantri. The possibility of becoming the ‘first dalit PM’ as cited by the two CMs apart, his nomination would make sense for two reasons: (1) He is not Rahul Gandhi, (2) His name hasn’t been suggested by anyone from The Family.
It is no secret that BJP’s second-best weapon to win a third term in government is Rahul G. Kharge, by sheer dint of not being him, holds value for both I.N.D.I.A. and Congress. By shifting the spotlight not just away from the ‘perennial Congress youth leader’ but also any particular name – Kharge isn’t a name but a proper noun – the anti-BJPness of the opposition entity will be highlighted. See him as a political beta- blocker. Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav apparently don’t care for the Kharge option. This is understandable from two perennial wannabes, whose sell-by date passed a while back. The subtext of ‘Kharge for PM‘ holds more than its text.
