Besieged by recalcitrant allies, the beleaguered United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could do well to take a leaf out of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy’s book. The latter leads the Congress-headed multi-party UDF (United Democratic Front) alliance in Kerala. Chandy, on a week-long visit to the capital with his entire Cabinet, says the “main strength of a coalition lies in gaining the confidence of the alliance partners. You have to agree to disagree.”
Chandy met Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Thursday, briefing her about the political developments in the state. The meeting, which lasted for ten minutes, was one of the several Gandhi had during the day. The Kerela CM, who has led the UDF to its second term, is seen as somebody who has successfully managed to take coalition partners along.
The veteran politician said, “A coalition has to function on mutual trust and understanding between the allies. There has to be continuous discussion. You can’t please everybody at all times, but you have to agree to disagree. The whole strength of a coalition is based on coordination and communication.”
The UPA has borne the brunt of a stubborn Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, Mamata Banerjee. Her refusal to agree to the Teesta water pact with Bangladesh embarrassed the government, including the prime minister, on his trip to Dhaka. The party followed this up with another snub, dissenting with the government on the Communal Violence Bill, terming it “anti-federal.”
Senior Congress leaders admit that TMC could have been handled better. “Mamata should have been taken into confidence and kept informed at all stages,” they say.
The mistrust between the Congress and its allies does not stop at TMC alone. The Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) has been seething with resentment ever since its minister, A Raja, and party chief Karunanidhi’s daughter were put behind bars. This time too, the UPA has lost no opportunity in emphasizing that Raja was solely responsible for the 2G scam and its ministers had nothing to do with it.
More From This Section
As things stand, it’s the DMK which is having the last laugh after the unearthing of a finance ministry note suggesting complicity of veteran leader P Chidambaram in the scam. A DMK spokesperson said, “We stand vindicated.”
UPA allies TMC, NCP and DMK also joined the opposition BJP in attacking the government over the recent petrol price rise.
If it wants to last its entire term, UPA-II needs to better manage its allies and learn to take them along.