By Liz Mathew, IANS
New Delhi : As the next parliamentary elections draw closer, almost every political party is trying to forge new partnerships to shore up their strength and wrest more bargaining power at the centre.
From relatively small states like Haryana – which has only 10 Lok Sabha constituencies – to large ones like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, all are witnessing hectic consultations among parties that were once foes for a re-alignment.
In Haryana, the newly formed outfit called Haryana Janhit Party – of former state chief minister Bhajan Lal and his MP son Kuldip Bishnoi – has almost finalised an agreement with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for an electoral arrangement.
Bishnoi is believed to have suggested that his party, which is apparently gaining strength among the non-Jat population – comprising almost 75 percent – could support Mayawati’s party in the general election. In return, the BSP could help his party in the 2010 assembly elections. The father-son duo’s party is expected to make huge dents into the vote bank of the ruling Congress, the party from which Bhajan Lal broke away last year.
A new re-alignment is also expected in Karnataka, where a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) pact went awry after which President’s rule was imposed. The state is expected to go to the polls in the first half of this year.
While the BJP hopes to fight the assembly elections alone, many of its leaders do not want to close its doors to its former ally, JD-S. The Congress is already in discussions with the breakaway Janata Dal groups, especially the one headed by M.P. Prakash. But Prakash is also negotiating with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for a possible alliance ahead of the elections.
Politics in Madhya Pradesh, where polls are due this year, may not go through drastic changes, but former BJP veteran Uma Bharti is expected to come back to her parent party before the polls. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is pitching for a better position in the state with its formula of social engineering. Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati hopes to win the support of Dalits, who comprise 15.2 percent of the state’s population.
In Uttar Pradesh, the main opposition Samajwadi Party is looking for a suitable ally as the ruling BSP is rapidly expanding its base in other states. The BSP has already given signals that it is distancing itself from the Congress. Alleging that some Congress leaders were keen to “eliminate” her, BSP chief Mayawati has warned that she would review her party’s support to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government at the centre.
The Samajwadi Party, the leading party of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), wants to build a stronger non-Congress, non-BJP Third Front.
At the same time, the party is equally interested in increasing its presence in the most populous state through alliances with smaller parties. Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav recently made attempts to cosy up to the Janata Dal-United, the ruling party in Bihar.
The UNPA, a coalition of eight parties, is desperately trying to strengthen its support base. It is also trying to rope in the Left parties to form a non-Congress, non-BJP front.
However, one of its major allies, the AIADMK, has already distanced itself from it and indicated that it would go back to former ally BJP. According to Tamil Nadu state BJP president L. Ganesan, the two would form an alliance before the 2009 polls.
Although the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), the leading Left party, has repeatedly stated that it wants to build up an alternative force to fight communalism and imperialism, its leaders have dismissed any immediate possibility in this regard.
CPI-M leaders have admitted that they were talking to various political parties to form a front and a decision in this regard would be taken by the party congress in March.
While addressing a rally in Chandigarh on Dec 28, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat said: “We will soon launch a new ‘manch’ (platform), which will act as a third alternative to the Congress and the BJP.”
Political observers say that the coming 18 months ahead of the 2009 elections will witness a “major churning process” in Indian politics.
“There will be more re-alignments and the process of polarisation is still on,” said Sudha Pai, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University.