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National Alternative to Congress and BJP

	April 10, 2006

The Samajwadi Party and the Telugu Desam Party have announced the formation of an anti-Congress, anti-BJP front. At a joint news conference in New Delhi on April 6, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu said that they are trying to include in the new formation, which they termed as “national alternative”, the All India Anna DMK, the Asom Gana Parishad and the National Conference. Naidu said, “We are working towards a long-term understanding,” adding that people had lost faith in national parties.



Asked when the front would be finalised, Yadav said, “Wait till the Assembly elections in the five States are over.” He said both the parties were jointly campaigning for the AGP in Assam. Asked about the Left parties’ role in the proposed front, Yadav said they had always been supportive of any anti-Congress, anti-BJP front.



Criticising the United Progressive Alliance and the National Democratic Alliance, the two leaders singled out the Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi for attack. They described as “drama” Sonia Gandhi’s resignation from the Lok Sabha on the “office of profit” issue. “She targeted the Samajwadi Party and became a target herself as she was bound to be disqualified,” Yadav said.



Both the leaders alleged political victimisation of their supporters by the Congress-led UPA. They said the economic reforms had not touched the poor, farmers were committing suicide, unemployment was unaddressed and prices of essential commodities were high.



On questions regarding his party’s support to the NDA, Naidu said the TDP had never compromised on secularism. However, in politics there were always developments that were incumbent on circumstances. “The Congress brought down the United Front Government accusing the DMK of being responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s murder. Now the Congress and the DMK are close,” he said.



Asked why his party was extending support to the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre, Yadav said the support was issue-based and in the same manner as the Congress was extending support to his government in U.P. The support was meant to weaken communal forces, but the opposite was happening, he said.



Both Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chandrababu Naidu continued in the same vein while campaigning in Assam in support of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP). Speaking in Tezpur on Friday, April 7, they said the Assam election would rewrite the country’s history if the AGP was voted to power and the Congress defeated.



Earlier in Guwahati, replying to a question on whether he foresaw mid-term polls, Yadav said there would be a big change after the Assam Assembly elections.



In Tezpur, Yadav said while the Congress had ruined the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party posed a grave threat by dividing the people on communal lines.



TDP chief Naidu said both the BJP and the Congress were the biggest enemies of Assam’s development. He accused the Congress of “blackmailing the minorities” in the name of protecting them and coming out with new migrant laws only to gain political mileage.



AGP president Brindaban Goswami said the Assam election would lead to the formation of a non-Congress, non-BJP front of regional, democratic and Left parties. It was the only viable alternative in the present political scenario.



The AGP chief said though the AGP’s tie-up was limited to seat adjustments with the Left and other democratic parties, in the post-poll scenario these parties would give shape to this understanding based on a political consensus and draw up common programmes.





Third Front, a lot of hot air; Congress



The Congress has dismissed as merely “hot air” the formation of an anti-Congress, anti-BJP front. Party spokesperson Rajiv Shukla said in New Delhi on April 7 that the Telugu Desam Party is now a spent force in Parliament. About Mulayam Singh Yadav, he said that the Samajwadi Party will itself become the third front in Uttar Pradesh politics in six months.



The Congress singled out Naidu for a bristling assault. “Naidu enjoyed the bread and fishes of power in proximity with the BJP-led NDA government for six years when his party had 30 MPs; he used to blackmail the then Atal Behari Vajpayee government to extort various favours, including foodgrains, which he then diverted from the people of Andhra Pradesh for his blackmarketing, there should be an inquiry to expose this scam now,” alleged Shukla.



Training guns on Yadav, the Congress zeroed in on the communal violence in Aligarh, rapping his Government for not preventing the violence and for having failed to protect the minority community.





Left lukewarm



Left parties and Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party, in their reactions, did not show much enthusiasm for the national alternative idea. The CPI(M) said it had its own formulation about a third front . The CPI and the Revolutionary Socialist Party felt that the proposed alternative should meet certain preconditions. Paswan said that no front without either the Congress or the BJP would be able to form a Government at the Centre.



While the Left is not very receptive to the idea of the third front at the present stage, observers say that the situation may change depending upon the results of the Assembly elections. The Left may decide to oppose more firmly what it calls the Government’s pro-US diplomacy and its neo-liberal economic policies. There is also resentment among the smaller UPA allies over what they consider the big brother attitude of the Congress.



In the meantime, the CPI(M) has criticised the Government’s signing agreements with two private consortia for modernisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports. In a statement on April 4, the CPI(M) said that the agreements are a breach of the understanding with the employees of the Airports Authority of India and make a mockery of transparency.





CPI(M) denies communalising foreign policy



The CPI(M) has termed as unfortunate Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s statement that opposition to the Government’s strategic tie up with the United States is communalising foreign policy. The CPI (M) party organ, People’s Democracy, said that applying the communal tag to those who oppose the Governemnt’s volte face on the Iran nuclear issue is wrong. It said that ever since the Left parties opposed the Government’s vote against Iran in the IAEA board meeting in September 2005, “the right wing media has been conducting a campaign that the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party are “communalising foreign policy.” The Samajwadi Party and the Left jointly organised a massive rally in Lucknow in November 2005, which was followed by a series of public meetings and seminars all over the country.



“The Government and the Congress should realise that there are widespread misgivings about the overall strategic partnership which the UPA Governemnt has forged with the Bush Administration. By branding them as “communalising foreign policy”, they cannot wish away the charge that the UPA Government has gone back on the pursuit of an “independent foreign policy”, it said.





Janata Dal(U) faces election for President’s post



Differences in the Janata Dal (United) have come to the fore with both party president George Fernandes and Parliamentary Board chairman Sharad Yadav putting their hats in the ring for the post of party president in the ongoing organisational elections. Separate sets of nomination papers for the top post were filed for both leaders on Saturday, April 8. Four sets of papers were filed for Fernandes and six for Sharad Yadav.



Sources said such a situation arose because the merger in 2003 of the Samata party, which Fernandes headed, and the Janata Dal (United), chaired by Yadav, did not go down well at the cadre level. Besides, the party cadres and even office-bearers felt that Fernandes was not accessible to them. This became obvious during the Bihar elections when the party president did not visit the party office even once, the sources said.



Normally the post of party president is decided through informal dialogue and understanding. However, Fernandes declared last week that he would file his nomination papers for the post. It is learnt that this did not go down well with the party members. Today is the last day for filing nominations. Scrutiny will be done between 3 and 4 p.m. and withdrawal will be allowed between 4 and 6 p.m. In case of a contest, election by the national council members (numbering nearly 1,000) will be held tomorrow.





Sonia Gandhi quits all Trusts/foundations



Congress president Sonia Gandhi has quit all trusts and foundations with which she is associated in a bid to leave no room for doubt about her holding an office of profit. This comes in the wake of the Election Commission announcing that the by-election to fill up the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency from which she had resigned, will be held on May 8. Filing of nominations for the by-election is to start on April 13.



Among the positions from which Sonia Gandhi has quit are chairpersonship of the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial Trust, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Jawahar Bhavan Trust. It may be recalled that Sonia Gandhi had quit as chairperson of the National Advisory Council at the time she resigned from the Lok Sabha.