BackPolitical realignment: What, we’re friends now?
Political parties and key leaders explore the possibilities of alliance or change sides as Lok Sabha polls near
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New Delhi: With political parties and key leaders changing sides, states that are key to the outcome of the coming general elections are seeing a major political churn.
While several small parties and sitting lawmakers have joined hands with the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—the front-runner according to most opinion polls—the Congress has been desperately trying to keep its flock together even as it tries to woo new partners.
The BJP, which hit the roads months ago with a high-intensity campaign led by its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, has forged two new partnerships in the past few days—the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, a party campaigning for the creation of Gorkhaland.
Meanwhile, several members of the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) members as well as a Rajya Sabha member belonging to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) have joined the party. AGP is the main opposition in the Congress-ruled Assam that has 14 Lok Sabha seats.
Former union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party announced its partnership with the BJP last month, and the BJP leadership is now in talks with movie star Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) in Tamil Nadu and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) in Haryana.
The BJP leadership has finalized talks with the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, according to a person familiar with the development. Even Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrashekara Rao has sent “feelers" to the BJP to explore the possibilities of an alliance, this person said, requesting anonymity.
The BJP hopes to open its account in Andhra Pradesh which is going to be bifurcated into two states—Seemandhara and Telangana—in June with the help of TDP in the former and the TRS in the latter. Together these account for 42 Lok Sabha seats.
Meanwhile, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)’s move to announce candidates for the elections have quelled any scope for a last minute alliance with the Congress. The DMK had quit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in May 2013, protesting the latter’s foreign policy regarding Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu has 39 Lok Sabha seats.
On Monday, former AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary and AGP leader and former minister Hitendra Nath Goswami joined the BJP along with a large number of their supporters in the national capital.
RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav, miffed with his party’s leadership for denying a ticket to contest Lok Sabha elections, is in discussions with the BJP to be fielded as its candidate from Patliputra, Bihar. Former union minister D. Purandeswari from Andhra Pradesh has already joined the BJP.
The Congress, the dominant party of the UPA alliance that has been criticized for the involvement of several of its ministers in corruption scandals and its mishandling of the economy, on Monday admitted that there is no scope for any alliance in Tamil Nadu where it has been out of power for the last more than four decades. The party claims it has almost finalized an understanding with the People’s Party of Punjab. The state sends 13 lawmakers to the Lok Sabha.
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