The Hindu : Third front in focus again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 29, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Third front in focus again

By K.K. Katyal

The strategies for pre-election alliances are in a state of flux. Those who thought that the political moves in the wake of the change in Uttar Pradesh had taken a recognisable shape will have to revise their opinion. The recent conduct of political parties, both national and regional, only served to highlight their contradictions and incompatibilities, which were supposed to have been pushed to the background, if not sorted out. There is no clear indication of the political permutations and combinations in the near future. In the process, a third front, a combine of non-BJP, non-Congress parties, appears to be regaining its appeal. This is so despite the fact that it proved a non-starter barely a year ago. As past experience shows, the third front starts as a concept which is pursued before elections through semi-formal efforts but could take a formal shape later. On one occasion — between 1996 and 1998 — the third front was in power at the Centre for 22 months in the face of heavy odds.

After the demise of the Mayawati dispensation in Uttar Pradesh when the Samajwadi Party supremo, Mulayam Singh Yadav, formed a new government with the support of, among others, the Congress, the decks appeared to have been cleared for a rapprochement between him and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi. Appearing to mark a reversal of the antagonism of 1999 which came in the way of the formation of a Congress-led government at the Centre, it was regarded a happy augury for a non-BJP alliance at the national level in the near future. Mr. Yadav's public retraction of his earlier stand against Ms. Gandhi because of her foreign origin strengthened that assessment. On his first visit to New Delhi after taking over as Chief Minister, he praised her for facilitating the formation of the Government, saying: "She has taken some very good decisions and has helped give the State a stable Government." Later, however, the two sides underscored the very limited scope of this support — to prevent the BJP from occupying a position of advantage in Uttar Pradesh. Lest there should be any doubt, Mr. Yadav clarified that the Uttar Pradesh arrangement was not to be seen as a precursor of a formal alliance at the Centre or in the State. On its part, the Congress not only stuck to its decision not to join the new Uttar Pradesh Government but also made known its other reservations. It was not happy with Mr. Yadav's virtual rejection of its plea for a common minimum programme or a coordination committee of the parties supporting the new Government. Also, the Congress was not comfortable with the widespread perception of a clandestine understanding between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP — evident from Mr. Yadav's actions in not disturbing the Assembly Speaker, Kesrinath Tripathi, the nominee of the BJP, and in not poaching on the BJP legislators though there was no dearth of disgruntled elements ready to cross over — of course, in the hope of getting ministerial berths.

At the same time, the Congress was seen engaged in preliminary exploration of an adjustment with Ms. Mayawati's party. In the immediate context, the BSP support, so felt the leadership of the Congress, could be of use to it, in the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where Dalits constitute a sizeable chunk of the electorate. What else was the meaning of Ms. Gandhi's gesture in enquiring about the health of the ailing BSP leader, Kanshi Ram, under treatment in a New Delhi hospital, and later calling on him and using the occasion for a one-hour meeting with Ms. Mayawati?

The BSP camp, however, dismissed the speculation about the possibility of an electoral understanding with the Congress. Not to be left behind, the BJP, too, took to personal gestures. First the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, and later two middle-level leaders, Madan Lal Khurana and the party general secretary, Naqvi, called on Mr. Kanshi Ram. Ms. Mayawati had a dig at the callers for their expediency — in making use of Mr. Kanshi Ram's health to convey political signals. She would not ally with any "Manuwadi" party. She included the Congress and the BJP in this category. In the Left camp, the CPI(M) ruled out an alliance with the Congress in the coming Assembly polls, a line that is certain to hold good at the time of general elections next year. It would, however, campaign against the BJP where the main fight is between the Congress and the saffron party. The CPI had the same position.

The Left parties do not see any scope for a third front in the State Assembly elections. But as Prakash Karat, member of the CPI(M) politburo, said, the party had not given up the goal of forming a third front at the national level. Efforts had to be made, according to him, to provide a viable alternative to the BJP and the Congress. Several others in the political establishment think that way.

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