CONGRESS LACKS ALLIANCE SENSE

By M H Ahssan

Party general secretary Rahul Gandhi ignites a fresh confrontation by saying that tie-ups in UP and Bihar were detrimental

LALU LABELS GRAND OLD PARTY AS SPENT FORCE IN COW BELT
With the congress alliance built around a shared view of secularism now in disarray, the grand old party and its ‘allies’ are engaged in a political trapeze to pull down each other. While Lalu Prasad Yadav, the ‘secular icon’ in the UPA, has been labelling the Congress as a spent force in the cow belt, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday ignited a fresh confrontation by saying that the alliances in UP and Bihar were detrimental to his party’s interests. In the process, the Congress, which is in need of regional crutches to retain power at the Centre, demonstrated that alliance politics is still not in its DNA.

To be fair to Mr Gandhi, he was stating a political truth — that regional players will not allow any intervention into the space occupied by them. It was the disintegration of the Congress’ rainbow coalition that led to the surge of the subaltern in the cow belt. The response for the Congress’s demand for a bigger electoral pie from the allies show their anxiety to zealously guard their respective votebanks. In any case, there has been no meaningul enagagement between the Congress and the voters of the cow belt in the past few years — something that is required to force the electorate to opt for the Congress as a political option.

But terming the alliance ‘detrimental’ to the interests of the Congress on the election eve does not make much political sense as the road to South Block passes through Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other important states that are under the sway of regional parties.

The Congress, which was successful in networking with these forces, now does not have important allies in many states. While the Tamil Nadu alliance that helped the Congress’ Delhi power project in 2004 is in tatters, its existing allies — the NCP and the Trinamool Congress — are determined to undercut the Congress’ influence. If a coalition is a coperative relationship based on mutual respect and confidence, the UPA in its present form does not fit the bill.

What can complicate things further for the Congress is the fact that “pique” has replaced a cogent political strategy to deal with the allies. The Congress spokesman, who lashed out at Mr Yadav on Wednesday, said the blame for a split in the “secular votes” will fall at the RJD’s footsteps. Mr yadav retaliated by saying
that the Congress will experience its real worth in the Hindi heartland after the elections. “I do not blame Sonia Gandhi. But her party is run by Munshis and managers,” he said hinting that political content was missing in its decision-making.

But the splintering of the UPA could lead to the revival of anti-Congressism that looked politically irrelevant after the UPA experminent and the enthuisiastic engagement between the Congress and the regional parties. Although the chief regional players are claiming that they will aid the formation of a government under Manmohan Singh, these public expressions of solidarity have more to do with preventing the possibility of any split in the Muslim votes. The goings on in the Capital clearly suggest that leaders like Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh and Sharad Pawar are working on a political realignment after the elections that would essentially lead to a diminished role for the Congress.

Mr Singh on Wednesday said that the two Yadavs — Lalu and Mulayam — would come together to take on those who want to challenge their political authrity in the cow belt. Parties like the Trinamool Congress are also willing allies in this exercise. Congress leaders themselves admit that there is lack of cohension in the Congress-Trinamool alliance in West Bengal.