Trouble in TDP

The leadership of the Telugu Desam Party cannot absolve itself of the responsibility of one of its MPs leaving the flock and supporting the Congress. This is not to suggest that inducement had not played any part in the controversial announcement of the MP, S. Vijayarama Raju. In fact, the announcement could have been to encourage further defections from the TDP parliamentary party. By acting alone, Raju is faced with the prospect of losing his membership in the House under the anti-defection law. Thus it is reasonable to assume that some more MPs are marking time to follow in his footsteps. That the TDP leadership is angry over his conduct and holds the Congress responsible for it is easy to understand. It rattled the caretaker8217; coalition so much that its MPs disrupted Parliament session on Wednesday. The TDP has rightly decided to invoke the provisions of the anti-defection law against the erring MP. But in all this, the leadership has glossed over its own political lapses. For instance, immediately afterthe defeat of the Vajpayee ministry with the thinnest margin possible last week, the Telugu Desam had announced that the party8217;s relations with the BJP had ended. It gave the distinct impression that the TDP was prepared to strike a deal with other parties in the post-Vajpayee scenario.

Given the fact that the TDP had not been very comfortable with the BJP and had fought shy of joining the government despite the persuasions of the BJP, the party8217;s eagerness to snap its ties with the BJP made sense. More so when the TDP is slated to face elections later this year and it, therefore, cannot afford to antagonise its Muslim voters. But within a day of making the confusing statement, the TDP made an about-turn when it was once again seen siding with the BJP. It now appears the TDP is a better ally of the BJP in the post-Vajpayee situation than was the case earlier. Seen against this backdrop, the announcement ending the TDP8217;s relations with the BJP was the height of thoughtlessness. Such a leadership surely has no right to blame its cadres for misreading8217; the party position and taking their own stand. The TDP8217;s problems basically stem from the contradictions inherent in its approach to political issues. The party has allowed itself to be dictated by events and has in the process lost much ofidentity.

It is well known that it was out of political compulsion that the TDP decided to support the Vajpayee ministry, though ideologically it had little in common with the BJP. Similar considerations continue to play with the TDP. At the moment the chances of a third front government supported from the outside by the Congress are remote as the Congress is keen to form its own government. Since it is the Congress which is threatening to dump the TDP in the electoral dustbin in Andhra Pradesh, it is almost impossible for the party to have any understanding with the Congress on government formation except at the cost of its credibility. It is for this very reason that the party has decided to stay put with the BJP for it considers it a lesser evil than the Congress. Thus when the party8217;s decisions are guided by realpolitik, the least it can do is to share the blame for its bolting MPs.