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Journalism of Courage
In the best of times, the political marriage between the Haryana Vikas Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana was a shaky one, especially after it became something of a menage a trois, with the BJP flirting openly with the Indian National Lok Dal.
Once INLD8217;s Om Prakash Chautala agreed to lend 8220;unconditional8221; support to the BJP-led coalition at the Centre, it was only a matter of time before the coalitional experiment, that saw Bansi Lal installed as chief minister of the state, collapsed. Certainly, the moment the INLD agreed to go along with the ruling party in the vote of confidence this May, after having parted ways with it a few weeks earlier, uncertainty came to roost in Haryana politics.
It was only after the AIADMK started being difficult, that the BJP seemed to have discovered the extent of corruption that thesouthern party was involved in. In much the same way, the BJP now has suddenly divined that the HVP is not quite straight in its dealings. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vaj-payee himself was at pains to explain that given Bansi Lal8217;s high-handedness and the allegations of corruption against him, the BJP felt a strong urge to distance itself from him. The point is, would the BJP have felt half as strongly about these alleged misdemeanours if the INLD was not at hand to lobby for its own ascendancy? The answer clearly is no. These are cynical power games that are being played with one eye on the ballot box.
The presumption is that Om Prakash Chautala is today far more popular among the Jat voters in the state than Bansi Lal, and that the INLD-BJP front would have a far greater political appeal than the earlier one. Even if this presumption is a correct one, the facile fashion in which the BJP can shed an alliance it once swore on, could send wrong signals 8212; both to its coalitional partners in other states aswell as to voters.
