Assembly Elections 2023 Updates| While all of Mizoram will vote on November 7, Chhattisgarh will see the first phase of voting the same day and the second phase will take place on November 17. The results of the elections are to be declared on Dec 3. What is Congress' strategy in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram; Political Analyst Tehseen Poonawalla weighs in. Watch.
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#TehseenPoonawalla #MadhyaPradeshAssemblyPolls, #ChhattisgarhAssemblyPolls, #TelanganaAssemblyPolls #MizoramAssemblyPolls, #RajasthanAssemblyPolls #IndiaElections #StatePolls #PoliticalChoices #VoterVoice #ElectionCampaigns #DemocracyDecides
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Hello and welcome. You're watching One India News. My name is Pankaj Mishra and November
00:04 7th is going to be the D-Day. Obviously, the much anticipated Assembly elections for 2023
00:10 are starting and the states that are going to polls, obviously the political pundits
00:14 are giving a thumbs up and a heads up for the Congress. Joining us to discuss what strategy
00:22 would Congress provide. They're seeing Poonawalla needs no introduction. A man who is known
00:28 for his delivery commentary on issues that I believe matter a lot in this country, especially
00:36 during the elections that they're seeing. Thank you so much for speaking to us. Tomorrow,
00:39 tomorrow, big day. What's the strategy? What's the plan? How things are going to roll?
00:44 Thank you, Pankaj. Thank you for hiring me on your lovely platform. And in advance, happy
00:49 Diwali to all your viewers and subscribers. And I do hope it's a happy Diwali for the
00:53 Congress and the opposition because you know that the opposition requires it. So you just
00:57 hope for that. I think it's going good. I think what is amazing is the Congress has
01:01 put up a fight in all the states. They seem to have a spring in their stride. And for
01:08 some reason, the Honorable Prime Minister's campaign because you know, the Prime Minister
01:12 comes down with the blitzer, he comes down heavy, hard. He fights each election as if
01:17 it's his last election, hasn't got the momentum. So I do think that the BTP slightly cold,
01:22 maybe conserving energy for the Lok Sabha elections, but the Congress is out there.
01:26 So kudos to the Congress on that.
01:28 All right. So two states as of now, if we can focus on as of now, Rajasthan and Shatisgarh.
01:33 Shatisgarh goes to the first phase of elections tomorrow. And one critical aspect that BJP
01:38 is harping on, and I believe that could be, you know, the loss of any solid reasoning
01:46 against the ruling dispensation of Congress in the state is the Mahadev betting app. And
01:51 it as it turns out, there are multiple loopholes also at times that there are claims and counter
01:56 claims being made as for this. Do you believe this app can have the potential to maybe turn
02:03 away the voters or maybe shift focus?
02:06 No, not in the case of Shatisgarh. It's come too late by the BJP. The obvious question
02:12 that the any voter would ask is, it's an app which comes under the IT ministry, not under
02:17 the Chief Minister. How can the Chief Minister protect an app? The IT ministry can can can
02:22 block the app any given point of time. Number one. Number two, why has this come out on
02:26 the eve of the elections? So it won't affect and you know, everyone that I spoke to in
02:32 Shatisgarh, they laugh. They said, Oh, do you think Mr. Bagel or T.A. Singh, your Congress
02:36 is so stupid. And I'm using this word deliberately. We have 500 odd crores in a five star hotel
02:41 car in the basement and the only two five star hotels in Raipur and in the car in the
02:45 basement in a luxury car. I mean, how stupid is that? And then the Prime Minister is using
02:50 a driver's testimony. Not that I'm making a distinguish between a driver is also hardworking.
02:55 The Prime Minister to make a driver's testimony so people can see through it. Yeah, absolutely.
03:02 Talking about Chief Minister Bhupesh Bagel, he is one guy who knew from the beginning,
03:08 you know, as we have seen also that he knew his task is cut out, you know, dealing with
03:13 the tribals, also a newly card straight, a relatively new card state, his role as the
03:20 Chief Minister. How is the acceptance level? How are the ratings for him? If you know,
03:26 if we talk about the general people of Shatisgarh, by far very high, there is no competition
03:31 because BJP has not rejected any other chief minister. Now, Raman Singh, of course, Amit
03:36 Shah ji flew down with him to file the nomination paper. But Raman Singh ji was almost ignored
03:41 right till the end, just like Vasundhara in BJP in Rajasthan, I'm sorry. And you know,
03:46 Raman Singh was not seen, Bagel ji was visible. Two factors will make a massive difference.
03:51 One, Shatisgarh has the lowest unemployment in the country as per the NITI Aayog report.
03:57 Number two, it's done the best performance on the multi dimensional poverty upliftment.
04:01 But more importantly, even during COVID, T S Singh Deo, a rival to Bagel ji, was the
04:06 best performing health minister. So on both these aspects, Shatisgarh has done so well.
04:11 I actually was telling the top leadership of the Congress that when we have a Rahul Gandhi
04:17 model or a Congress model, it must include Shatisgarh, some social welfare from Rajasthan
04:22 and some from Karnataka. We must have a model that includes success in these states. But
04:26 Shatisgarh has provided a certain amount of success, which could be a counter to the Modi
04:29 ji model. Absolutely. And, you know, not far away in neighboring Madhya Pradesh, Congress
04:37 today itself Priyanka Gandhi ji announced, you know, 3000 rupees for as a, you know,
04:44 election swap, I believe, for the, you know, those who are out of jobs or something of
04:51 that sort. My point here is if you have to counter development with development, then
04:57 these swaps that come into picture, these doles that come into picture, do you believe
05:02 that it has still got that kind of heft in states like Madhya Pradesh and Shatisgarh?
05:07 So I don't like the word doles or revere as the honorable prime minister uses it, because
05:12 we are a welfare state. We are a welfare state. That's why we became independent, right from
05:16 British. We were a welfare state and the top most capital states, all welfare states, if
05:20 you look at the Scandinavian countries, it is our duty to make sure our fellow citizens
05:25 have the same opportunities that Pankaj U and IS-13 have. So that is the promise of
05:31 Nehru. He says in Trishul Destiny to wipe every tear from every eye and that should
05:35 be Congress's promise. You should never shy away from being a welfare state. But that
05:39 must go hand in hand by building a competitive meritocratic society, a society that allows
05:45 businesses to flourish without crony capitalism. So I think if you can have a mixture of those
05:50 two, you can have a model, but we owe it to our citizens to be a welfare state. Just look
05:55 at the malnourishment, for example, in India. India is the Indian kids are terribly malnourished.
06:02 India is the only nation, for example, whose citizens height hasn't grown as to average
06:06 height as compared to other countries. So we owe it that we give them nutritious food,
06:10 we give them jobs, we give them electricity. That's our duty and our commitment as an independent
06:14 nation. We must stand even more firmly by it.
06:17 Absolutely. And that is something that I would say, you know, 75 years down the line must
06:23 be ensured of down the line from freedom. Also talking about, you know, once again,
06:30 the safeguarding the future and also giving jobs, employment, that is one aspect of Rajasthan
06:37 at times has found itself in the eye of the storm as far as the paper leak is concerned,
06:41 the examination and that's what Prime Minister Modi also harped on during his recent visit
06:46 to Rajasthan. How as of now critical it is for Congress in order to keep its house in
06:54 order so that the front that is being put in front of the people in these elections
06:59 seems to be united.
07:00 The House of the Congress now is in order. I admit and I will never misguide you or your
07:06 viewers. There were certain differences between Gaylordji and Sachin Palaji. Why? Why hide
07:10 that? But today they're fighting as one unit. It's the BJP on the on the other hand, whether
07:15 it's Rathoreji who's the ex-BJP president or Rathoreji who's the union minister, Gajendra
07:20 Shekharwadji, CP Joshiji of BJP, who's the PCC president of Rajasthan BJP, who are facing
07:27 massive protests, black flags, BJP offices being stoned, CP Joshiji, the BJP CP Joshiji,
07:35 his house being stoned, his office being burnt. So they are facing internal protests. In fact,
07:40 Modi ji and Amit Shah ji tried to ignore Vasundhara Rajaji. During the women's reservation
07:44 bill celebration, Vasundhara Rajaji being the only woman on stage was not allowed to
07:48 speak. She has, they've had to like Raman Singh ji bring her back in because they realized
07:53 the organization was scratching. Congress is a much stronger unit as of today. That
07:58 I do not want to say like Madhya Pradesh and Shakti Jharkhand, Congress is winning Rajasthan.
08:01 It's a very tough fight. But the fact is, it's a tough fight in Rajasthan, as opposed
08:06 to a one sided fight where Rajasthan changes. It's kudos to the Congress. And therefore
08:10 I started my talk with you, Congress is fighting.
08:14 Right, absolutely. You're right. You know, when it comes to Rajasthan, I was in the back
08:20 of my mind, I had the fact that two states that I would say for the last was Rajasthan
08:24 and then Telangana. You're right. You're calling a spade a spade. I appreciate that. One final
08:29 word, Telangana, breaching KCR's bastion, how big a challenge for Congress because BJP
08:34 at times, you know, both of them, TRS and BJP appear to be on the same side of the coin.
08:39 Yeah, and Congress came up with a very creative campaign. They distributed these wedding cards.
08:44 KCR, BRS marries BJP. So I think, I think it's critical for Congress to win Telangana.
08:51 If the Congress wins the state of Telangana, they're very close to winning it. If they
08:55 don't score self goals and they win it because the Congress loves scoring self goals. Okay.
08:59 So the Congress doesn't score self goal and wins Telangana. Two things will happen fundamentally.
09:04 Number one, the Congress, Southern India would change. Southern India would be BJP-mukt because
09:10 Karnataka, the BJP is completely destroyed. They haven't been able to appoint an LOP.
09:14 They're in a crisis with Karnataka and Telangana. Congress would have the muscle power to contest
09:20 the national elections. It'll have enough resources and I don't mean money wise because
09:24 people will jump on it. I mean resources politically to fight the Lok Sabha elections with Telangana
09:30 and Karnataka. Even if the Congress comes close to forming a government, but BRS forms
09:35 a government in the Lok Sabha, the Congress will sweep Telangana along with Karnataka
09:41 simply because a lot of votes that would not have come to Congress this time because they
09:45 just don't want the BJP to come. So they're still betting on BRS in the Lok Sabha will
09:49 vote Congress en masse. So the Congress only has to gain the BJP is in a very precarious
09:54 situation in South India. The Congress pulls off Telangana, 10 years, you won't see BJP
09:58 in South India. That would be that would be something that we will definitely wait and
10:02 watch on December 3rd. You're absolutely right. Corruption is also one factor that drove BJP
10:07 out of Karnataka and this time around corruption also is becoming a key issue in Telangana.
10:11 Tahseen, thank you so much. Thank you, Pankaj. Have a great day and happy Diwali to all your
10:16 viewers in advance. Tahseen, greetings to you and your family for the festive season.
10:19 Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Pankaj. Thanks, buddy. Thanks. Cheers. Bye.