So many Congresses

With the apparent extension of support of seven independents to the Congress party,Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda should now have no difficulty proving his majority in the new state assembly. The Congress had been widely expected to sweep the assembly elections,and it is perhaps an indication of its surprise at the final result that party leaders are involved in hectic consultations with the Bhajan Lal-led Haryana Janhit Congress to convince them to return to the mother party. A merger would give the Congress a guarantee of political stability in Haryana,and avert the possibility of supporting MLAs increasing their demands every now and then. But the current endeavour is interesting from an all-India perspective,as it puts the focus of the Congresss desire to re-integrate factions that broke away at different points.

Many Congress leaders,for instance,had suggested before the Maharashtra elections that the party replicate its experiment in Uttar Pradesh and go it alone in the state,and that the Nationalist Congress Party merge with the GOP. It did not quite happen that way,but the Congress inclination to reverse the fragmentation of the past two decades will remain an interesting political story to track. Indeed,not long after the general elections this summer,Ram Vilas Paswan,who had failed to be returned to the new Lok Sabha,confirmed overtures from the Congress,indicating that the Congress was looking to revive its old social coalition in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh by reaching out to parties once bred on strong anti-Congressism.

At one level,this indicates a confidence in negotiating with and importantly in accommodating old adversaries. This indication of a project to expand the partys political reach by absorbing smaller parties also adds traction to the Congresss inclination to go it alone in as many states as possible.