The Hindu : Congress, BJP and coalition politics

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 30, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Congress, BJP and coalition politics

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI DEC. 29. The Bharatiya Janata Party said today that the Congress ``had not learnt the correct lessons'' in conducting coalition politics. The party was reacting to the statements made by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, at a press conference in Mumbai on Sunday.

Expanding on coalition politics, some party leaders pointed to Mrs. Gandhi's ``inexperience'', as she had talked of negotiating an electoral understanding in Uttar Pradesh with both the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. ``She should have known better. By naming both the rival parties in one breath she has annoyed both,'' a party leader said.

Although in the past the BJP leaders have differentiated their party from the Congress by pointing out that theirs was a ``collective leadership'' as opposed to the ``cult of personality'' encouraged by the Congress, today it seemed that it was the BJP which was claiming some brownie points on the basis that it had a ``personality'' in Mr. Vajpayee, which no opposing front had the capability to challenge.

One senior leader said today that in Mr. Vajpayee the BJP and the NDA had a ``world statesman''. That title Mrs. Gandhi could not claim.

The party was of the view that the Congress was nowhere near cobbling together any front that could effectively challenge the NDA, which would present itself to the people as an ``experienced'' pre-poll alliance. The Left parties had made it clear that they would not enter into any seat adjustment with the Congress in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, where they mattered; there was a big question mark over any tie-up between the Congress and the SP or the BSP in Uttar Pradesh; in Tamil Nadu the AIADMK was opposed to the Congress and if it went for an alliance with the DMK it would have a lot of explaining to do, relating to the Jain Commission and the fact that all through the five years of the current Lok Sabha the DMK was part of the Vajpayee Government.

The ``only partner'' of note that the Congress has, the BJP says, is the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar. It could bet on an alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra and it had a government going in Jammu and Kashmir with the People's Democratic Party.

However, the BJP does not say why despite the so-called ``feel good factor'' five NDA allies have left the coalition. Mr. Ajit Singh's party, which fought the last Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh as a BJP partner, is now a coalition partner of Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party; the National Conference parted company with the NDA after the fiasco in the Jammu and Kashmir elections; the Lok Janshakti was formed when its leader, Ram Vilas Paswan, left the NDA on the issue of alleged State connivance in the Gujarat riots; the DMK left the NDA recently and withdrew its Ministers, although it has said it will give ``issue-based support'' to the ruling alliance; and now the MDMK has followed in the footsteps of the DMK. At one time, the NDA was assured of the BSP's support when the BJP was part of Ms. Mayawati's Government in Uttar Pradesh. Now, the BSP leader has vowed to defeat the BJP wherever it can.

The BJP is counting on making the next Lok Sabha election a ``direct contest'' between Mr. Vajpayee and Ms. Gandhi, and it is confident that the NDA leader will have the upper hand.

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Congress, BJP and coalition politics