POST DIVORSE, ITS MARRIAGE TIME

With the last leg of campaigning for the elections getting over, the season of marriage proposals begins. Unlike a normal marriage, Indian politics is about divorse followed by marriage. Congress & the Left were at loggerheads for the past one year. Left was responsible for bringing the UPA government on the brink of collapse last year. It was a bitter divorse which ended on a highly sour note. But one year down the line, Congress is playing the role of the groom and trying to woo the probable bride. The only difference this time around is that there are multiple brides which it is trying to woo. The kind of vibes the groom (Congress) has been sending over the last few days does not reflect any vestige of the rocky marriage that the Left and Congress shared for the past 4 years. But the proposal is not restricted only to the Left. The Congress also wants Jayalalitha & Nitish Kumar to be a part of this marriage.
The biggest advantage the Congress has at this junction is that it is the most viable option for most regional parties. But the biggest negative for the Congress is that if it wants AIADMK & JD (U) to join its allaince, then it will have to break ties with its close associates of the UPA- Lalu Prasad’s RJD & Karunanidhi’s DMK.Barring Nitish led JD(U), no party would be comfortable alligning with the BJP due to it’s communal image. Even for the Left the biggest problem is that it cannot form a third front government without the Congress’s support.




In all likelihood which ever alliance comes to power, the two most practical marriages possible are- 1) A Congress led government at the centre along with the Left, where Congress is the groom and Left is the bride. 2) A Left led third front government with Left as the groom along with various brides (smaller parties) & the Congress plays the priest’s role by blessing the marriage (support the government from the outside). Given that there is going to be a fractured mandate, Congress & the Left will have to work together in some way or the other to keep the BJP out of power.
The other probable marriage which no one is talking about at the moment is between the BJP & Mayawati. This couple might just shock everyone by tying the knot. As Manmohan Singh says ‘Politics is the art of the possible’. This possibilty could just underline Dr.Singh’s statement.

Published on- http://www.behindindia.com/india-news-stories/article/election-2009-01.html