Chapter 44 Exile is round in shape #2
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. They will offer you more, but Janta is the long game.”
“Hmm. You mean we should give Yogesh Patel the first chance?”
“I mean, we should only give 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.”
Hariraj preened. The credit for this deal was now his. Atharva, as he had become accustomed to, rolled back into oblivion.
“Would you like to sit for the meeting with Yogesh Patel?” Samar asked him.
“I can sit. It’s been a while since I saw him.”
“Bad cop or good?”
Atharva shrugged — “You are leading, go figure.”
————————————————————
Yogesh Patel and Samar sat opposite each other on the round table. Atharva sat on one of the three chairs lined to the side. Hariraj and Roshanji occupied the remaining chairs, the side characters in a decidedly tense back and forth.
Atharva sat quietly as Samar took the lead on negotiating — the bad cop.
Just what Atharva wanted. Numbers were tugged, ministries discussed.
HDP, as had been decided, asked for the moon.
Janta, as had been expected, promised nothing short of a piece of cheese.
Atharva waited, sitting back, letting them reach a point of no return.
He had confidence in Samar’s sense of entitlement, cemented with this victory, to take this discussion there.
And Samar did.
“What you are asking is impossible,” Yogesh Patel pointed. “If you want Deputy, and Law & Order, then you will not get Finance.”
“This or nothing.”
Yogesh Patel detested ultimatums. Atharva kept watching.
Yogesh Patel stared long and hard at Samar. A minute ticked by, silent. Hariraj squirmed beside him. Atharva kept his gaze steady on the men at the table.
“Thank you for sitting for this meeting, Samar sahab…” Yogesh Patel began to push his chair back.
“Yogesh bhai,” Atharva addressed. “Let’s not jump to any conclusions yet.”
“Your friend does not leave me any choice,” he remarked, eyes on Samar.
Atharva flicked his gaze to Samar, whose face looked tired.
After all, he had been doing all the physical work this time around.
Being a full-time President of two parties across states and fighting an election was taxing. Atharva nodded at him.
“Why don’t we go to the balcony for some fresh air?”
Yogesh Patel still did not glance at him as he stood to his feet. His tall, lean frame began to move towards the trapdoor made of glass that pushed out into the balcony. Atharva unfolded himself from his chair and followed.
He stepped out after Yogesh Patel and closed the door. Atharva stared at his back, a man who was manning the Union Home Ministry and the Central government with effortless flair. The man who held the door to his return to Kashmir.
“I am surprised to see you here, Atharva,” he remarked, eyes on the vista in front of them. The valley, the houses, the sun and the flare of the sun that was patent to Himachal.
“Where else would I be? This is the only place where I can find some work,” Atharva chuckled.
“Not in Punjab or Uttarakhand?” He quipped, one eyebrow raised, still not looking at him.
“It’s preliminary.”
“Party offices scouted, membership drives started, cadre work begun. Preliminary.”
“For beginners like me, it’s preliminary.”
Now Yogesh Patel turned his head over his shoulder, just an inch. His shoulders vibrated — “You and beginner? Tell me what’s your deal for Himachal, Atharva?”
“Samar is asking for Home, Law & Order and Finance…”
“Along with Deputy. What’s next? Everybody but the CM is Samar’s?”
“No, but we can talk and agree on two out of three. Hmm?”
“We will not give HDP Home. Law & Order and Finance are yours if you want.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then I have independents to form the government.”
“Do you?”
Yogesh Patel’s eyebrows drew together. Atharva did not need to say more. Their eyes met, and his nose flared.
“You can form a government with HDP or you have a hung assembly. The latter is a possibility right now with HDP and independents both not willing to go with you.”
“And what will you get out of this? Your partners have not even given you an official post in any of your regional parties yet. And you are holding both bargaining chips for them?”
“Open my way back to Kashmir.”
Yogesh Patel sighed.
Atharva could see his helplessness in that breath.
And if a man that powerful was helpless…
it deflated Atharva for a split second. But then he thought about Srinagar.
About the waters of Dal he hadn’t touched and the lotuses he hadn’t bargained for.
He thought about his grandfather’s house and the upkeep that it must need — not the regular clean-ups but the yearly plumbing, tending, plastering.
He thought about Budgam and Begumjaan’s farms.
“You can do it, Yogesh bhai. It’s been two years.”
“Qureshi holds the power in Jammu-Kashmir right now — both hard and soft. KDP has absolute majority. I can only lift the externment if they stop talking about you. But Qureshi is still keeping you alive in public discourse. In every session, there is some MLA who brings up a question-hour debate about the bombing. The media is Momina’s.
Every time, a different way of needling.
I don’t need to tell you that Qureshi and Momina are working together on this. ”
“I know.”
Yogesh Patel did not turn completely but his eyes sharpened. Their gazes held — “Since you meandered this election to your liking, you can do the same for Jammu & Kashmir.”
Atharva blinked. A man like this would grasp the entirety of an issue from just a glance.
“April 2020. It’s not too far away. If Janta scores more than KDP, if the CM changes, then the conditions may become conducive for your return.”
Atharva blinked again. This was hope enough. This was exactly what he had wanted to hear. And if one thing he was sure about in politics, it was Yogesh Patel’s word.
“Give Samar Law & Order and Finance. The Deputy also remains HDP’s. And sweeten the deal with Agriculture so that you can keep Home,” Atharva offered.
Yogesh Patel thought for a moment, then gave a nod.
“Then we can go inside and present this good news.”
He pivoted on his heels and found three pairs of eyes on them. The men hadn’t moved from their places but their eyes were zeroed in on them. That is why Yogesh Patel had kept himself turned away, his mouth specifically.
“Atharva?”
“Hmm?” He turned again, giving the room his back.
Yogesh bhai pierced his eyes with that sharp look — “What do you say we ally in Punjab and Uttarakhand?”
“Go into elections together? But we have not even sprouted yet.”
“The offer is on the table. We can talk more. And I know how high you have sprouted.”
Atharva chuckled.
“Let’s talk more.”