Some have stepped up the campaign for the final two rounds of polling in Elections 2004. Others are busy painting the hues of the coalition they would have sworn in on Raisina Hill next month. Laloo Prasad Yadav has the air of a man ordering toppings for his late morning uttapam. Umm, I’d like a role for Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in a Congress-led coalition but, no thanks, hold Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party. Forget, for the moment, the fact that all this coalition formation by Laloo is extremely premature. Instead, look at the clash of Yadav egos currently being foretold in these statements.The Laloo-Mulayam rivalry has been a firm cornerstone of Third Front politics since the early ’90s. Their realms of influence have been largely confined to their respective states, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Yet, the desire to be anointed pre-eminent leader of India’s backward castes has precluded any tactical understanding between the movement’s two leading politicians. Even the uneasy cohabitation in the United Front government finally collapsed because of the determination of one not to see the other succeed H.D. Deve Gowda as prime minister. Today, as opinion polls forecast a hung Parliament, the harnessing of the Samajwadi Party’s possibly sizeable contingent of MPs could be crucial to the formation of a Congress-led government. Laloo’s outburst in the middle of the poll schedule would necessarily hamper all backroom attempts to prepare non-NDA parties for post-May 13 cooperation.At once, this reminder from Laloo that the two Yadavs cannot meet points to the immaturity still rife in regional political parties. It also, however, delineates shortcomings in the Congress leadership in its bid to forge a coalition to replace the NDA. As the national party around whose agenda and electoral strengths that coalition would necessarily have to coalesce, some responsibilities come with the position. Piecing together a pre-poll alliance is just the beginning. If the Congress is to be seen as a credible leader of coalitions, its leaders must strive to keep that alliance in harmony — an alliance of both current and possible partners in government. Laloo outburst is thus also an indictment of its troubleshooters.
