Can Opposition Parties Put Up A Credible Alliance To Take On BJP?

A day before Valentine바카라�s Day, a rather curious love story was taking shape in Parliament. Congress lawmaker Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury went hammer and tongs at the Trinamool Congress over its alleged involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam and the comments left Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was also present in Parliament House that day, furious. 바카라�I won바카라�t forget it,바카라� Mamata was quoted as saying when she met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Gandhi was quick to pacify the mercurial Trinamool supremo. 바카라�We may acc­u­se each other but we are still friends,바카라� Sonia told the chief minister.

Hours later, Mamata joined Congress leaders among others in a rally, 바카라�Save the Constitution바카라�, and declared that her party was ready to be part of a united Opposition to take on the Narendra Mod-led BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. The same day, Mamata attended another Opposition meeting along with Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the house of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar. The agenda was the same: opposition unity to defeat the BJP.

The mega rally on February 13 in Delhi, attended by leaders from more than a dozen parties, was the third time in a month when opposition leaders had shared a common stage. The rally came three weeks after Mamata바카라�s meeting at Calcutta바카라�s Brigade Parade ground on January 19. These are indicative of the growing bonhomie among opposition leaders ahead of the crucial parliamentary polls. But there is still no guarantee that it will be a love story with a happy ending. Political alliances are invariably messy. More so when they involve parties and leaders divid­­ed by ideology and regional equations. At the Delhi rally, minutes before Mamata바카라�s arrival, Left leaders바카라�Sitaram Yechury and D. Raja바카라�had exited the stage. Despite their announcement that they will work together for a common minimum programme to fight against the BJP-led NDA, many questions remain on the contradictions within the Opposition.

What makes 바카라�Opposition unity바카라� such a big deal is their experience from 2014, when the BJP won a brute majority with just 31% of the popular vote. Pollsters point out that while the BJP managed to consolidate its vote share, the split in the non-BJP votes decimated the Opposition. But putting together a winning combination is a different ball game.

The signs of fissures within the national allies are visible with a standoff between the Aam Admi Party (AAP) and Congress, both fierce rivals in Delhi. Though Mamata urged both parties to stitch an alliance for the seven LS seats, political compulsions on the ground seem to be an impediment for Congress to concede any ground to the AAP. A senior Congress leader said that the party바카라�s Delhi leadership is not too willing for an alliance with AAP owing to pressure from local workers. Former chief minister Sheila Dixit, who faced a drubbing at the hands of Kejriwal, is back as the Delhi Congress chief. Though Kejrwal has expressed his party바카라�s eagerness for a tie-up, party leaders say that they are yet to get any positive feedback from Congress. 바카라�Though we have differences, we are willing for a tie-up with Congress in the interest of the nati­o­­n. Now it바카라�s up to Congress to decide whether they want to defeat BJP in Delhi or not,바카라� says AAP leader Gopal Rai, who is also the state바카라�s labour minister.

Most of the opposition leaders Outlook spoke to admit that they prefer state-wise alliances rather than a national alliance to strengthen their cadre base. Post-poll strategies could be worked out depending on the numbers, they say. 바카라�In every state, we have conditions on the ground that we have to deal with. When you enter into an alliance, there바카라�s a give and take. Ground level contradictions are a matter of fact. Everyone is trying very hard to overcome it,바카라� says senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid. The leaders, however, hope that even when parties contest each other in states, they will join a national alliance after the elections. According to DMK leader Kanimozhi, the constituents of the alliance are bound by the basic principles of secularism and protecting the Cons­titution. 바카라�There바카라�s a clear understan­ding between parties in the states. There바카라�s no conflict in this,바카라� says Kanimozhi. However, the ground scene looks shaky.

The fragility is most apparent in West Bengal where the Congress and the Left parties are likely to reach an understanding against the Mamata-led Trinamool and BJP. Ruling out any alliance at the national level, CPM MP from Bengal Mohammed Salim says the political arrangement shouldn바카라�t be termed grand alliance. 바카라�At the state level, some kind of arrangement can be made depending on the prevalent situation. The Left parties are in talks with Congress,바카라� he says. Responding to Banerjee바카라�s proposal of teaming up with the Left at the nati­onal level, he retorts, 바카라�Who will take Mamata seriously?바카라� TMC leader Sugata Bose, who agrees with the party chief바카라�s proposal, says that what Mamata meant was that the 바카라�unity바카라� can happen even after the election.

Analysts feel that by opting to fight the BJP state-wise, the opposition parties can limit the saffron party바카라�s gains and that a national-level alliance will be a logical conclusion if they succeed in the respective states. 바카라�There are contradictions. But ultimately things will work out and I think it바카라�s a developing situation. In UP, the equation between Congress and the other two parties (SP and BSP) are still not clear to anyone. There could be under­standing, which they are not talking about,바카라� says Prof Sudha Pai of JNU.

With Priyanka Gandhi바카라�s entry creating a flutter in UP politics, speculation is rife about the SP-BSP-RLD combine reconsidering its decision to leave out the Congress from their alliance. However, Ghanshyam Tiwari of Samajwadi Party (SP) dismisses such talks. 바카라�When we outlined the alliance, we left two seats for Congress in view of the political situation here. We welcomed Priyanka in UP and there is total clarity about our partners.바카라�

Another embarrassment for the allies came when BSP chief Mayawati said the Congress government in Madhya Pra­desh and UP바카라�s BJP government act in the same vein, after they invoked the National Security Act (NSA) against people acc­used of cow slaughter. SP founder Mula­yam Singh바카라�s praise for Prime Minister Modi also struck a jarring note in UP, the most politically crucial state with 80 LS seats. 바카라�The comment was made in good spirit. In 2014 also, he made similar rem­arks.  The BJP chose to overamplify it,바카라� says Tiwari.

Andhra Pradesh presents another contradictory picture. While Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu is taking the initiative for bringing disparate political forces together, his party and Congress are fighting separately in the state. TDP leader Lanka Dinakaran says the decision was taken in view of certain political compulsions.

With regional heavyweights Sharad Pawar and Naidu marshalling support for the coalition, political analyst Narendra Pani believes they can be the driving forces of the coalition.  바카라�Pawar has been around in national politics for a long time. He got a stature바카라�. As talks on the formal structure of the unity gather steam, CPI leader D. Raja says parties should form a coalition and work on a common minimum programme after the elections.

A question persistently posed by the NDA is about the 바카라�instability바카라� of a coalition government. However, Pani says a diverse country like India needs to have diverse interests.

바카라�Already, we are too centralised and too much power is with the government,바카라� says Pani, who works with National Institute of Advanced Studies. 바카라�If you take the last five years, there was stability of the government, but there was no stability on the ground. Demonetisation and GST caused lot of disturbance. A coalition government wouldn바카라�t have gone for note ban,바카라� he says.

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• Kejrwal has expressed eagerness for a tie-up with the Congress but the grand old party is yet to respond to the overtures.

• What makes 바카라�opposition unity바카라� such a big deal is their 2014 experience when the BJP won a brute majority with just 31% votes.

• The fragility is apparent in Bengal where the Congress and Left are likely to reach an understanding against Trinamool and BJP.