Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal bowled an unplayable googly when they proposed the name of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge as the prime ministerial candidate during the INDI Alliance meet on Tuesday. Although purportedly a good suggestion as Kharge, being a Dalit, would be politically advantageous, it basically scuttled Rahul Gandhi’s candidature. No member of the Congress has had the guts to support this suggestion, which will have been noticed by everyone, within and outside the party, including Kharge.
Even if the INDI Alliance does win the Lok Sabha polls, deciding on who heads the government is going to be a hugely tricky task. Past experience has shown that the Congress is averse to propping up a candidate from another party for too long. Also, when there have been coalitions of parties, they have not lasted because of the rivalries among the leaders, each maneuvering for the top post. This is one of the stumbling blocks to winning the elections as the people have not forgotten past history.
It was also witnessed at the meet that it does not take much time for ideological differences as well as individual party interests to emerge. Bihar’s ruling coalition, comprising the RJD and JDU, is eager to prop up Nitish Kumar as the alliance leader. Lalu and Tejashwi Yadav know that, except for Nitish Kumar, no leader at the Centre will be inclined to get the investigative agencies off their backs. This is why they reportedly did not respond positively to the proposal on Kharge. Also, Nitish Kumar’s dismissal of the request for translation of his speech into English for the DMK representative revealed his desire to align with purported Hindi Heartland interests. People will wonder why.
The TMC, AAP and SP are aware that their primary interest lies in maintaining their regional dominance, whatever the results of the elections. What use would it be if they lose in their strongholds and the Congress rides on their backs to power? So, while it may be easy to unite in creating a ruckus in Parliament and getting suspended together, agreeing on common candidates on each of the Lok Sabha seats is going to be a very difficult task, especially within the short time available. They are further hampered by the absence of anti-incumbency, which usually works for any kind of opposition alliance. And if they do agree on candidates, what’s going to keep other non-coalition opposition parties from putting up candidates who will split the votes? The BSP in UP is a good example. Under the circumstances, what are the voters going to think about the prospects of the Alliance?
