Attempts to forge pre-poll pacts intensify

As the year 2003 went by, political parties initiated moves to look for friends and consolidate their positions for the Lok Sabha elections.

That the political situation is fluid become evident with the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav rushing to Delhi and holding talks with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor George Fernandes and CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet.

But Yadav's remarks prove to be disappointing for the Congress which was keen to use Surjeet to persuade the wrestler-turned-politician to fall in line and join the broader secular coalition with the Congress.

"Our experience with the coalition is not good," Yadav said, adding his party would keep the option of alliance open. "We will give and take support on the basis of issues," he said after his meeting with Surjeet.

Obviously, Yadav's stance makes it clear that the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief was averse to the idea of having any pre-poll alliance with the Congress.

According to sources, Yadav made it clear to Surjeet that he was looking for the post-poll coalition of secular forces. Yadav's political formulation has virtually thrown out of gear the move by Gandhi to forge a secular coalition before the polls.

Now the Congress may have to look for an alliance with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in UP, not a happy scenario for the Congress which is keen to regain its support base among the upper castes.

This has also prompted Surjeet to say a secular front led by the Left would also be in existence along with the Congress-led coalition of secular forces.

That Gandhi has been making a determined effort to win friends is evident by the manner in which she met Lok Janashakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan to firm up an alliance of the anti-BJP forces in Bihar, where the Congress already has a tie-up with the Laloo Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Party.

There was speculation in the NDA that Paswan would rejoin the ruling alliance shortly. Gandhi's meeting with Paswan is intended to pre-empt any move to co-opt Paswan into the NDA's fold.

But what appears to be significant is the move by Gandhi to forge an alliance with the DMK and the MDMK in Tamil Nadu, a state where if the Congress forms an alliance with the Dravidian parties, it can expect to recover some of the political ground.

Even as Gandhi is making a frenetic effort to forge an effective alliance with the "like-minded parties" before the decision on the poll schedule is taken, Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and Fernandes have been making efforts to bring Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar in the NDA to give impetus to the anti-Sonia campaign.