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United Progressive Alliance : Odds of survival |
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It has been less than fortnight since the Congress-led UPA government assumed office at the Centre but its detractors have already started predicting its instability. How can such a coalition last for long, it is being asked. The Congress did not have sufficient numbers in the Lok Sabha to provide stability as the Left has kept itself out and leaders like Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and Fertiliser Minister Ramvilas Paswan can rock the boat anytime. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will show his true colours after the Maharashtra Assembly poll and the UP component in the government is negligible. The powerful DMK’s Karunanidhi is already demanding his pound of flesh. His demands are bound to rise in the months to come, so argue the detractors.
So many parties which were not part of a pre-poll alliance but fought each other are now either supporting or are part of the government. But one section of observers feels the opponents of this government are indulging in wishful thinking. The fact is that this government which enjoys majority support in the Lok Sabha has come to power on the strength of its ideological commitment to preserve secularism. The parties may have fought against each other but those who have joined the government do not endorse any communal agenda unlike the participants in the previous BJP-led government. The parties under the chairmanship of Sonia Gandhi have agreed to a common minimum programme which will be the guiding spirit behind all decisions to be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues. The Left parties have their concerns but they cannot be expected to act irresponsibly when the BJP-led NDA has been voted out.
The detractors of this government seem to have ignored the threat to the existence of whatever has been left of the NDA. Already there is a re-think in the Telugu Desam Party which was both an associate and a major beneficiary of the previous regime. There are voices from some erstwhile socialists that Narendra Modi and Gujarat had hurt their prospects badly. In short, it was power, not ideology, which was the binding force of the previous Vajpayee government. Parties which come together on an ideological plank have more than power to keep them together. In the NDA, even the BJP had compromised on its ideological beliefs because the current leadership has dithered on ideological principles of their party since the pursuit of power had become a favourite pastime.
Confusion between ideology and idealism confused the Sangh cadres more than anything else and corporatisation of the political functions was the last straw that brought down the BJP’s tally by 44 Lok Sabha seats.
The new cabinet has a large number of eminent people who have acquitted themselves very well in the past. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s credentials cannot be doubted. He is supported by veterans like Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, Natwar Singh, and Arjun Singh. Both Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kamal Nath have a good track record and they have a long way to go. Sharad Pawar and Laloo Yadav have been chief ministers and have been in politics long enough to understand their responsibilities. Thus it is clear that the new coalition is here to stay for some time.
UPA bid to rope in RLD’s Ajit Singh
Even as members of the new Lok Sabha were being sworn in last week, there were indications that the Congress had begun efforts to augment the strength of the treasury benches by roping in the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) into the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the Cabinet. Leaders of the Congress and the RLD were not ready to officially confirm the move but sources in both parties hinted that informal discussions were on.
By all indications, the discussions were centred on the proposal to induct the RLD president, Ajit Singh, into the Cabinet. There was also an offer to give the RLD a post of Minister of State.
The RLD has three members in the Lok Sabha - all from Uttar Pradesh where it had contested in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP). Sources in the Congress said the new move fit in well with the larger “plan of action to strengthen the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.”
“The induction of the RLD into the Ministry would naturally weaken its alliance with the S.P. This would give a fillip to the Congress’ efforts to marginalise the SP and capture the secular political space in Madhya Pradesh,” according to Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh.
There is agreement in the Congress, both at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, that marginalising the SP is crucial for the party to emerge as a major political player in India’s most populous State. The party is also contemplating other organisational manoeuvres, including the appointment of Rahul Gandhi as Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh. But weaning the RLD away from the SP is expected to precede all this.
Interestingly, the majority of the 15 RLD MLAs in Uttar Pradesh are reportedly against the move. “They are of the view,” said an RLD leader based in Lucknow, that joining the Central Ministry could lead to the party’s ouster from the SP-led Uttar Pradesh Government and that this would work against the RLD’s interests in the State.
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