HVK Archives: Country at the crossroads - Part IV of V (Strange alliance)
Country at the crossroads - Part IV of V (Strange alliance) - The Telegraph
Ashis Chakrabarti and Bishaka De Sarkar
()
13 April 1997
Title : Country at the crossroads - Part IV of V (Strange alliance)
Author : Ashis Chakrabarti and Bishaka De Sarkar
Publication : The Telegraph
Date : April 13, 1997
If the allies are here to stay and the major players cannot do
without them, sooner or later the Congress and the BJP will be
pulling at them. In fact, Sitaram Kesri is believed to have
planned his coup with possible allies in mind. He hoped for a
split in the UF, which has not happened so far but which may happen
any time. The history of previous coalition governments at the
Centre too had hinged on such hopes.
In 1989, the VP Singh government's survival was also thought to
have been linked to a split in the Congress. The Janata Dal had
hoped that a split in the Congress would reduce, if not eliminate,
its dependence on the BJP, and to a lesser extent, the Left. It did
not happen. The Congress has alleged that Deve Gowda was trying to
break the Congress to save his government. Privately, Congressmen
admit that Sharad Pawar and Rajesh Pilot were not averse to the
idea of splitting the party and joining the government in
partnership with the UF.
When the UF boasted of its rocklike unity this time, Kesri retorted
that he knew just how to smash such unity. The splitting games have
not succeeded so far. But a majority of Lok Sabha MPs being anxious
to avoid another test at the hustings, attempts will continue to be
made to reach some kind of adjustment between the UF and the
Congress. Despite their public postures of UF unity even the
Communists may help cement such a bond.
CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet's frantic efforts
to save the Gowda government were aimed at this. In their anxiety
to keep the BJP out of power, the Congress and the UF seem destined
to make common cause. If not this time, the next election may see
such adjustments. To save the Gowda government, all UF partners
were agreeable to evolving a mechanism for better co-ordination
with the Congress. They are still exploring ways for a compromise
with the Congress. "There has to be a formal mechanism to ensure
that the party supporting the government has its say," says CPI
leader Farooqi. If the CPI can criticise the government even being
a part of it, why can't the Congress, he asks.
Some of the UF partners can also go the BJP way. True, they will
have to weigh the consequences of aligning with either the Congress
or the BJP because of the dynamics of there state politics. Both
Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav were considered soft
targets for the Congress, along with the Tamil Manila Congress and
the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham. But both Mulayam and Laloo Prasad
have to think of Muslim and other votebanks in their states which
have shifted from the Congress. Similarly, Chandrababu Naidu would
not mind joining hands with the BJP. But in that event, he runs the
risk of losing the support of Muslims in Andhra Pradesh. Despite
such imponderables, the compulsions of national politics may force
the regional satraps to change their tacks.
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