Passing the parcel

Monday's meeting of the Coordination Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies has passed off without any untoward incident....

Monday8217;s meeting of the Coordination Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies has passed off without any untoward incident. That may be some relief but it brings no reliable reassurance to the BJP in the context of the electoral setback it suffered. Small wonder that the meeting claimed the attention of everyone concerned over stability at the Centre. Naturally enough, the declaration of solidarity emanating from it failed to dispel apprehensions on this score.

The record of unity in the coalition was such that many would even consider it mainly responsible for the remarkably rapid decline in the image of the BJP-led government. Almost every one of the allies had at one point or the other threatened to carry differences with the BJP to a point of no return. With Jayalalitha8217;s AIADMK leading the pack and Mamata Banerjee8217;s Trinamool Congress not lagging too far behind, and the Akali Dal and the Samata Party only shining by contrast as models of restraint, the allies have been no unalloyedblessing to the BJP.

With such friends, the bemused nation had begun to think, the BJP needed no enemies. If the unanimous resolution adopted at the meeting, reaffirming the BJP-allies8217; bonds, inspires no change in this perception, it is because public experience does not encourage it.

Despite repeated protestations to the same effect, the allies have continued to press their pound-of-flesh demands, and there is no indication that the poll results will make them more reasonable 8212; and every possibility that the pressure will indeed be intensified. The reference is not to the officially emphasised demands.

The Committee witnessed a clamour on the prices issue and a concession of one of Jayalalitha8217;s acknowledged charter of demands included in the National Agenda relating to state-level reservations. The AIADMK leader has denied reports of a deadline set by her party for the DMK government8217;s dismissal. Only the overly naive, however, will believe that she will scrupulously refrain from exploiting thesituation of electoral creation for such an end.

Or that other allies with other regional axes to grind and scores to settle will be more strictly guided by the popular mandates for their participation in the government or support for it. The BJP has been blamed for pursuing a hidden agenda, but ill-concealed has been the interest of the major allies in securing aims outside their avowed common programme.

The leader of the coalition can, of course, claim to have scored a limited victory in the committee. The BJP is not without weapons in this battle with allies ready to switch into the adversarial mode at any moment of expediency. Fear of mid-term elections is one factor that can restrain them, and another is the fact that, with the possible exception of the AIADMK, none of them has anywhere to go.

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There is a limit, however, to which these weapons can be effectively employed. It is realistic to envisage a point at which the BJP can best serve its own interests refusing to yield to political blackmail.Appeasement of allies will harm its image much more than the quot;appeasement of minoritiesquot; that has been the party8217;s long-time anathema.