Experience of Congress dominating UPA has forced the regional parties to chalk out a new strategy this time.
New Delhi: Regional parties do not want a repeat of United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which was dominated by the Congress, and hence, are working towards a strategy to form the government in which the grand old party will have least or reduced say, post the Lok Sabha elections.
Despite the Congress’ desire to lead the proposed “mahagathbandhan” (grand alliance against BJP), regional parties have sidelined it altogether and are working out a strategy on their own. As a result, Congress has been forced to play the second fiddle to these regional parties in the alliance in the making. This is happening despite Congress being in a much better bargaining position, especially after victory in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
“Regional parties do not want dominance of the Congress in any anti-BJP formation. Their strategy is to win as many seats as possible on their own and ensure that Congress gets few seats so that they can bag key ministries like finance, home, external affairs, defence etc, or even the prime ministership, which was held by Congress both during UPA I and II,” said a source.
The Opposition’s “United India Rally” held in Kolkata on Saturday has positioned West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at the centre of an anti-Narendra Modi formation. Though Congress was invited for the rally, it was given an “equal”, and not any “special” treatment by the TMC chief, who organised the mega show.
Anticipating this, Congress president Rahul Gandhi preferred to stay away from the rally and deputed Mallikarjun Kharge and Abhishek Manu Singhvi to represent the party there.
The rally saw the presence of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), N. Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), H.D. Kumaraswami (Karnataka), former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, DMK chief M.K. Stalin and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah.
Interestingly, BJP “rebels” Shatrughan Sinha, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were also present in the rally, which was basically a show of strength by the anti-BJP alliance.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Prof Manindra Nath Thakur of Jawaharlal Nehru University said the strategy of the regional parties was to increase their bargaining power vis-à-vis the Congress. “They are worried that if Congress’ position is strengthened, their position may become weak. But the regional parties will have to understand that nationally, it is only the BJP or the Congress which can lead the government. Voters clearly feel that regional parties are only for the states and when it comes to ruling the Centre, a government led by only BJP or Congress can provide stability,” he said.
Prof Thakur said this is clearly the time for the rise of the regional parties because Congress is not in a good shape. “But in my view, any anti-BJP formation, which does not have Congress in a prominent position, may not work. The idea of a Third Front is not viable. It has to be a fight between the first front led by BJP and the second front led by Congress. But at the same, this is also a challenge for the Congress to revive itself so that it once again becomes a national player,” he added.
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) too has announced that it will contest the elections alone in Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, further sidelining the Congress which wanted to strike a deal with it to take on the BJP in Delhi in particular. This came following statements from Congress leaders that AAP was a “small and defunct” party and Congress was “not interested” in having an alliance with it.
The SP and BSP have already announced their decision to contest the Lok Sabha elections together in UP, sinking their decades-old animosity. However, though they have kept Congress out of the alliance, they have left two seats, Rae Bareli and Amethi, the traditional seats of the Gandhi family, for the Congress. Taken aback by the “unilateral” decision by SP and BSP, the Congress expressed its displeasure and has been now forced to contest UP’s all 80 seats, alone.
Subsequent to the development in UP, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav flew to Lucknow to congratulate and extend support to SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati. This way, sources said, the RJD clearly indicated that it was in favour of an anti-BJP formation in which Congress would not have much say. RJD sources said Congress could be given a few seats in Bihar, while RJD would lead the anti-BJP front.
The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), on the other hand, continues with its policy of maintaining equidistance from both BJP and Congress. Though BJD was invited for the Kolkata rally, nobody from the party attended it. TRS and AIADMK are the two other major regional parties which have kept away from the anti-BJP formation.