An unwarranted standoff

THE DEVELOPMENTS DURING the past week involving the Left parties and the Congress, when Mr. Somnath Chatterjee ``refused'' to attend a meeting convened by the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, of floor leaders of parties in the Opposition is reflective of the inability of the Left parties to strike a balance between their long-term strategy and tactics in the immediate context. Mr. Chatterjee's decision to stay out of the meet (it is another matter that he visited Ms. Sonia Gandhi at her residence a couple of minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin) could only have been at the instance of Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Samajwadi Party leader, with whom the Left parties have joined to put together a non-Congress opposition to the BJP-led NDA (the People's Front), clearly has the ground realities in Uttar Pradesh in mind; Mr. Yadav's animosity towards the Congress dates back to the days after the fall of the Vajpayee Government in May 1999. Mr. Mulayam Singh continues to refuse Ms. Sonia Gandhi's party any share in the anti-BJP support base he has built in Uttar Pradesh.

With elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly due now, it is only natural for the Samajwadi Party to step up the anti-Congress rhetoric. And the Left parties too are adopting the same attitude given their dependence on Mr. Mulayam Singh's party in the State. But then, denying the need for coordination among the Opposition parties in Parliament will only leave the BJP-led NDA rejoicing. After all, the issues before the Opposition in this session of Parliament need coordination. Take for instance the Union Government's failure to intervene in the UTI affair. Rather than letting the electoral considerations of parties (in Uttar Pradesh) act as a stumbling block, the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party (as also such other parties as the RJD, the AIADMK and the NCP) will serve their cause and also that of the democratic polity better by agreeing to coordinate with the Congress on this issue. That the Congress continues to remain the single largest party in the Opposition is a fact that the parties in the People's Front cannot ignore. And this reality is certainly not going to change at least in the context of the thirteenth Lok Sabha. The Opposition owes it to the people to act in such a manner that it makes use of Parliament as a forum to censure the Government for its omissions.

Be that as it may, the Congress too will have to re-work its strategy in the given context. It may be true that Ms. Sonia Gandhi as Leader of the Opposition is ``privileged'' to lead the charge against the Government on the floor of the Lok Sabha. It may also be a fact that the Congress remains the largest party in the Opposition and is heading the Governments in as many as eight States. But then, it is imperative for Ms. Sonia Gandhi at this stage to reconcile herself to the reality that the Congress alone is in no position to take on the challenge posed by the BJP-led combine at various levels. Thus, the existing reality will require the Congress high command to re-work the strategy and ensure that the party is not seen as wanting to ``command'' the others even if they are all only seen as regional entities. The Congress, for instance, had allowed its relationship with the Left parties to sour when it struck an opportunist alliance with Ms. Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal just on the eve of the Assembly elections there. It may be the case that the Congress cannot afford to parcel out Uttar Pradesh to Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav and let whatever is left of the party organisation there (not much in any case) disintegrate. But then, the situation demands the party reconcile its own interest in States (vis-a-vis the regional outfits) and the need to take on the BJP-led challenge in the wider national arena. And this is where Ms. Sonia Gandhi will have to prove her mettle.

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