A debate on the relevance of coalitions has begun in the Congress, with party officials fearing that their continuation would finally affect the credibility and growth of the Congress.
While Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Anant Gadgil has raised this issue by writing two articles in a leading vernacular newspaper in Mumbai, the party officials in West Bengal fear that the Trinamul Congress’ main objective now is to weaken the Congress further.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress has virtually given up its claim on the chief ministership ever since it joined the Omar Abdullah government in 2009.
The Congress has been sharing power with the NCP in Maharashtra since 1999 but it has never been comfortable with the Sharad Pawar-led party. This is because the NCP’s emergence has ended the Congress rule in this premier state.
Mr Gadgil wrote these articles at the instance of the top leaders in the party ahead of the crucial local body elections in the state.
Though he did not name any party, he clearly drew attention to the nuisance value of smaller parties in the coalitions and their attempts to play a role of “kingmaker”.
He also contended that governments have to make compromises (to remain in power) because of coalitions.
In fact, Mr Gadgil began his article by saying that the debate on the relevance of coalition governments has begun because of the limitations of the UPA-2 government came to the fore and the Centre became the target of criticism in the past eight-nine months.
But Mr Gadgil is not the first leader to raise this issue.
Earlier, Maharashtra chief minister Pritiviraj Chavan obliquely raised this issue after the Mumbai blasts a couple of months ago. He had suggested that such incidents had occurred because the key ministries, including home, were not with the Congress.
The Congress insiders are blaming the party’s past and current allies for its debacle in the Bihar and Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The DMK had refused to share power with the Congress in Tamil Nadu while RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav saw the Congress should remain completely depending upon his party in Bihar.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party, backing the Centre from outside, are the ones to check the Congress in the state.