Kanpur crackle

Congress President Sonia Gandhi8217;s attack on the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh was not entirely unexpected. But, as she rallied her party rank and file to be prepared to go to jail if need be, some silences were just as pronounced in her address in Kanpur on Monday. She did not repeat her colleagues8217; appreciation of the Samajwadi Party, but in the first UP Congress Committee regional convention in 28 years, she did not level a familiar list of charges against it either. It is not confirmation of a much rumoured alliance between Congress and the SP, but the silence has certainly made the idea of the alliance suddenly credible. It is an idea that highlights the most remarkable oddity of Indian politics since the early 8217;90s: the inability of the Congress and the BJP to make viable, longlasting alliances with UP8217;s big two.

The Congress has spent its wilderness years in UP trying to separate its adversaries from possible allies. For all this time, the SP was seen to be a usurper of Congress turf: the minority vote that transferred out of the old grand coalition in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. The BSP meanwhile, with its 8220;transferable8221; vote, was seen to be less threatening 8212; for both the Congress and the BJP. However, Mayawati8217;s majority-gaining social alliance in the last assembly elections, constructing bottom-up the Congress8217;s social coalition, has changed perceptions. Even though the

Congress iterated its resolve to go it alone last year, a continuing ambivalence on Mayawati was evident in the Centre8217;s hesitant moves on taxation/corruption cases against her. Therefore, whether the Kanpur consensus will hold remains a moot question.

But equally interesting is the obverse side of Sonia Gandhi8217;s attack on the BSP. As our columnist today argues, among other things, the Congress8217;s softness on the SP proves the salience of the political ideas that drive the 8220;third front8221;. But beyond the specific political dividends that could flow from it, the Kanpur meet is important for its potential to draw the regional parties of UP into a viable two-coalition arrangement at the Centre.