Page 237 of The Circle of Exile
“Samar bhai ne kar ke dikha diya[68],” Hariraj Singh from Udhampur drawled.
“Bilkul[69],” Atharva strode into the room and took the only vacant seat — beside the President’s.
“I have been getting calls from Janta Party all morning,” Hariraj shared. “What about you, Balwinder bhaiya? HJS people calling you yet?”
Balwinder Joshi from Shimla grinned, holding his phone up. A long list of missed calls.
“Sorry, sorry,” Samar walked into the room, his demeanour light as air, as if he would float away into thin air. Atharva’s gaze met his and the joy there was palpable. A rare sight. Atharva smiled, nodded.
Samar grinned, pushed his glasses up his nose and took the chair at the head.
“Congratulations, first of all. We have pierced HJS’s armour. Here are the final numbers,” Samar set his papers down, reciting — “All seats have been called. HJS closed at 22, Janta Party at 21. We hold the power to form government with either party at 14.”
“How many independents?” Atharva asked.
Samar laughed — “What does it matter? A majority is 35. Whichever party we go with will form the government. We have the highest bargaining chips. I have been speaking to HJS as well as Janta. Yogesh Patel wants to meet us but I think we should give HJS the first…”
“Samar, there are 11 independents called,” Atharva interrupted him.
“Yes, so?” Samar sat back. “Even if they all come together, they can’t touch majority with either of these parties.”
“I agree, but if 2 or 3 from HDP dissented and moved, then the power has shifted to them.”
Samar shook his head — “Nobody will go. They know we hold the power today.”
“That’s what I am saying, use that power to sway a rising sun, not the one that is setting. HJS is fragmenting. Their founding member is not here anymore to hold them together. Theywilloffer you more, but Janta is the long game.”
“Hmm. You mean we should give Yogesh Patel the first chance?”
“I mean, we shouldonlygive Yogesh Patel a chance. We already have an alliance with them in Jammu & Kashmir, they are the ruling party at the Centre. And looking at their ratings, they are not going anywhere in the near future. Furthermore, all the expansion we have started in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana will best be penetrated with Janta by our side. We start as their B team and then slowly take over from there.”
“I agree with Atharva Bhai,” Hariraj nodded. “We pressure Janta that we have an option with HJS and get the best that we can.”
Atharva smirked — “Bingo.”
“I don’t think so…” Balwinder Joshi chimed. “HJS will be subservient to us. We may not get our CM but Deputy, Home and Finance can easily be wrested. At our numbers, that’s a feat.”
“With Janta, you will be able to get two out of these three,” Atharva pointed. “But you will be able to influence all decisions because you will have the power to pull your support at any given point. They will acknowledge that, and give you unofficial powers. Because a party that tastes power once, does not want to let it go. At any cost.”
The room fell silent. Atharva could see the cogs turning in their heads. He checked his phone.
VIKRAM
4 out of our 5 independents won
ATHARVA
Keep them on standby and collect the rest too
All 11
Atharva glanced back up around the table. He didn’t think he’d need the 11 independents and threaten this room that if it didn’t go with Janta Party then the independents and 3 of Vikram’s loyal HDP winners would. But he still liked to keep his options open.
The last two years had been spent on nothing but creating options. Every B for plan A, every C for plan B. He had not only penetrated the elite of Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala and Solan to secure a stream of generous funding but also gotten Vikram to establish close connections with the religious heads of gompas, temples and gurudwaras across the state to secure cluster votes. Atharva didn’t have the vote margins on each constituency yet, but he didn’t need them to know that each of the seats that HDP had won was with a marginal tipping across the middle line. Some of the Janta seats were also pushed like that. Courtesy: Vikram and his ‘friendly’ propaganda for his ground-level Janta Party friends.
“Atharva?” Samar’s voice made him glance up. “What do you say?”
“Both options at this point look lucrative. But Hariraj made a valid point. Our bargaining power with Janta will be higher than HJS.”
