After The Polls, BJP May Collate Regional Players For 'Game'

By M H Ahssan | INNLIVE

EDITORIAL In an interesting development, senior Congress leader and political secretary to Sonia Gandhi Ahmed Patel has hinted that Congress might consider lending support to a non-BJP coalition after the Lok Sabha polls. 

This amounts to a tacit admission that Congress believes it might not be in a position to lead a grand alliance after the results are out on May 16. It also suggests that Congress is looking at a scenario similar to that in 1996 when it had propped up the United Front government. 

Congress’s track record of propping up Third Front governments has been extremely lacklustre.
Nonetheless, its efforts to woo regional parties may force BJP to redouble its own efforts to reach out to smaller players. In fact, for BJP such a post-poll strategy could help it outflank Congress and counter the latter’s charge that it is unacceptable to a majority of political stakeholders. 

Having more partners join the NDA ship could bolster a BJP-led government even if the party wins close to 272 seats. This will ensure BJP has a comfortable buffer in case it has to lead a large and unwieldy coalition government. At first glance such post-poll tie-ups may appear out of sync with the recent war of words between Narendra Modi and potential allies like AIADMK or Trinamool Congress. 

However, the shrillness in rhetoric can be put down to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate trying to maximise his party’s gains. Following May 16, we could see a softer Modi. That said, both Mamata Banerjee and J Jayalalithaa are temperamental and may not prove to be reliable allies. Besides, while Mamata wouldn’t like to drive away her Muslim vote bank in Bengal by warming up to Modi, Jayalalithaa has the distinction of pulling the plug on the NDA government in 1999. 

In contrast BJD’s Naveen Patnaik, who had a stable alliance with BJP in Odisha till the Kandhamal riots in 2008, may prove to be a predictable partner. Similarly, JD(U)’s return to the NDA fold cannot be ruled out entirely. But if Modi is to win over the likes of Patnaik and Nitish Kumar after polls, he must go the extra mile to shed his hardline image. Only then can BJP spike Congress’s plan to cobble together a secular front.