Non-Cong Oppn parties' vain hunt for allies against BJP

Each of the non-Congress Opposition parties like the Left, Janata Dal United and Samajwadi Party spent the year looking for right political partners against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But the search remained elusive.

The search for allies led the CPM to the brink of a vertical division in the party as party leaders clashed over the extent of relationship with the Congress. The JDU, a dominant party in Bihar, started looking outside the state to find new allies when it found its alliance with RJD inadequate.

The Samajwadi Party had to witness a big family feud over taking new partners and articulating its opposition to the Modi government.

The CPM in West Bengal had allied with the Congress to combat its adversary Mamata Banerjee in the last Assembly polls. State party leaders took advantage of an ambiguous resolution of the Party Plenum and went into electoral alliance with the party they were fiercely opposing in Kerala.

This inconsistency had such a fallout that a senior Central Committee member was expelled from the party because she wanted action against West Bengal leaders. The issue is yet to be resolved fully because the state party believes that understanding with Congress is essential to put up a joint front against the Trinamool Congress, which, they claim, is eliminating Left cadres.

Nitish dominates Bihar

In the process of searching allies outside the state, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar spent the entire year in reinventing himself and the party. He lost no time in recognising that he has to take control of the party to take it in the desired direction.

Senior party stalwart Sharad Yadav had to give way to make Nitish president of the Janata Dal United. At least for now, he has retained the existing bureaucracy which has leaders like K C Tyagi and Arun Shrivastava at the helm.

In order to have some new programmes, Nitish Kumar took up anti-liquor campaign and diverted his energy from balancing a difficult ally such as RJD leader Lalu Prasad.

Strategies

Nitish initially combined anti-liquor campaign with anti-RSS campaign (‘Sharab -mukta Bharat, Sangh Mukta Bharat’). Later, he dropped the anti-RSS rhetoric to appear modest in dealing with adversaries. His search for new partners in Uttar Pradesh did not result in a positive outcome.

The chief minister did address some rallies but could rope in only a few people, including RLD leader Ajit Singh, to support his party.