Cong ready to take on Left in Bengal, Kerala

With the Left parties constantly carping on economic issues and its alliance partners like the Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka and the Telangana Rashtriya Samithy (TRS) in Andhra Pradesh flexing their muscles, the Congress today re-invoked the coalition dharma to remind them that all parties in partnership follow a basic discipline, especially in public.

But, while re-iterating its commitment to the coalition at the Centre and some states, the Congress also asserted its determination that its state units work relentlessly for revival and return to power on their own steam.

The determination, contained in the party's political resolution at the plenary session here, came ahead of Assembly elections in five states, out of which at least two would witness a direct contest between the Congress and the Left parties, which were providing outside support to the UPA government at the Centre.

But, the Congress sees no contradictions in it, as national challenges demand co-operation and co-ordination among secular parties.

"But in states like Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura, there is no question of any understanding or compromise," said the resolution asserting that the party would aggressively confront and fight the Left in these three states. Virtually ruling out any truck with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the Congress welcomed an alliance in these states with any party that had no ties, direct or indirect, with the BJP.

Debates on the political resolution also betrayed the party's desire to regain its past glory, as many speakers including Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi thundering that the Congress was more Leftist than the Left parties themselves, given the initiatives taken by former Congress prime ministers to introduce land reforms, nationalise banks and abolish the privy purse.

"In their anxiety to protect and project their own individual party line, if any coalition partner crosses or is seen to be crossing the limits of constructive criticism, then the coalition is weakened and its public credibility eroded. There is a thing called collective leadership in a coalition that must be adhered to at all times," said the political resolution.

Ironically, these sermons about coalition dharma came in the immediate backdrop of the political flux in Karnataka, which was largely attributed to the Congress' deliberate neglect of the concerns of JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda. In a last-ditch effort to save the coalition government, Congress President Sonia Gandhi is likely to meet Deve Gowda immediately after her return to Delhi.