The Unbearable lightness of Cong’s friendships

For God’s sake, the Grand Old Party was never meant to enter into miserable alliances with paltry local formations! Hey, this is the Co...

For God’s sake, the Grand Old Party was never meant to enter into miserable alliances with paltry local formations! Hey, this is the Congress remember? The party of the freedom struggle with the largest mandate ever to rule, needn’t have to bother with provincial satraps. Time was when a Kamraj or a S K Patil or a Nijalingappa could only raise their heads before they were firmly squashed by Mother Indira. Time was when Mani Shankar Aiyar famously thundered that the Congress would go it alone without any local busybodies.

Well, history has now made the Congress the mere tailfin that wags feebly on local whales. All over India, the oldest party has been forced into being the junior partner with regional heavyweights. With Laloo Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal allotting only four seats to the Congress, a look at the sorry state of the Congress’s alliances.

Bihar Cong and RJD

‘‘Take four and no more,’’ Laloo Prasad Yadav recently said, while giving the Congress only four seats — Aurangabad, Begusarai, Madhubani and Maharajganj. ‘‘They say they are a big party,’’ the RJD chief said, ‘‘but what is the proof?’’

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Laloo was one of the Congress’s oldest and trusted ally, but in Bihar, the Congress is no more than a junior partner to the Yadav messiah.

Andhra Pradesh Cong and Telengana Rashtra Samiti

Here too the Congress is lumbered with a powerful local ally which is campaigning for a separate Telengana state. Again, local Congressmen like Y S Rajashekhara Reddy have been been noisily unhappy about the number of seats they have had to give up to the TRS, with Congress leader in charge of Andhra, Ghulam Nabi Azad calling for ‘‘sacrifices from Congressmen’’ in seat-sharing. While the prospects for the Congress may have improved with the TRS, its seat share is hardly higher.

Tamil Nadu Cong and DMK-led Democratic Progressive Front

Having effected a stunning reversal of its earlier loathing of DMK leader Karunanidhi, the Congress may benefit from this alliance but in Tamil Nadu too, it is very much a minor musician in the Dravida orchestra. The DMK has given the Congress only 10 seats.

Maharashtra Cong-NCP-RPI alliance

Perhaps the best of the Congress alliances, with the least trouble in ticket distribution. A wide social base combined with the recently issued NCP manifesto that makes no mention of the dreaded ‘‘foreign origin’’ issue, the Congress is healthiest in Maharashtra.

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