NEW DELHI, SEPT 27: Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Ajit Singh's Lok Dal and H.D. Deve Gowda's Janata Dal have made common cause in what is still a fledgling move but a preparation for the post-Vajpayee scenario.Without forming a new party or front, the three groups will conduct a ``joint campaign'' to provide alternative policies to the ones put forth by the NDA. The idea, it is learnt, is to form a nucleus for a new political front in the future.A visible manifestation of the move is the invitation Sharad Pawar has extended to both the ``fraternal parties'' for the NCP convention to be held in Nagpur on October 1-2. Madhu Dandavate will represent Gowda and Rashid Masood will go in place of Ajit Singh. Singh has to stay in Delhi as he is an accused in the JMM case in which verdict is expected on September 29.The new alliance was stitched up when Singh, Pawar and Gowda met here earlier this month. The three leaders are planning to concentrate on issues affecting farmers. Pawar and Singh are also believed to be making a case for smaller states; Sharad for a separate Vidarbha and Singh for a separate Harit Pradesh carved out of western Uttar Pradesh.Whether or not it turns out to be the centrepiece of a larger alliance of regional groupings in the future, the move indicates which way the wind is blowing in UP and Maharashtra.It shows that against all odds, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance is there to stay, and that Pawar is not planning to join hands with the NDA. A.B. Vajpayee has been in touch with many Congressmen and former Congress leaders with a view to inducting them into the NDA to convert it into an increasingly centrist formation, wean it away from the RSS moorings and to get to a position when no one party can rock the NDA boat. The inclusion in the BJP's national executive of many former Congressmen who had joined the BJP was to tell all those unhappy with the Congress leadership that they would get a place of pride in the BJP were they to cross over.The new arrangement also shows that Ajit Singh is not going to ally with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh as he did during the 1999 general elections. The Congress's poor showing in the UP Assembly by-elections held a few months ago is an inhibiting factor. Moreover, last time Singh had to deal not just with Sonia Gandhi but also a dozen Congress leaders and keep them happy so that none of them could queer the pitch for him.The alliance with the NCP and Gowda can give Ajit some semblance of strength, particularly with his efforts stepped up for a Harit Pradesh. Even if he has to bargain with some other group - it could even be with Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party - he would like to be better placed than he is today.BSP leader Mayawati has already declared that she will go it alone. Vajpayee would have liked a poll alliance with her but the BSP is of the view that while it can transfer its votes to other parties, the reverse is not true. If at all there is an alliance, it will be after the polls, depending on the arithmetic of the House.With the decline in BJP fortunes in the state, the Samajwadi Party is emerging as the front runner. Salman Khurshid's removal as the UPCC chief has strengthened SP's ties with the Muslims. In 1999, Muslims had viewed the Congress as a party that could take on the BJP at the Centre. With the party's tally of 113, that hope was belied. The SP has also been concentrating on the Rajputs to widen its votebank. The decision not to go ahead with sending Union Minister Rajnath Singh, a Rajput, as chief minister to UP, which was overturned at the last minute, has not helped the BJP with the community.
