12-09-2008, 11:22 PM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Editori...how/3804943.cms
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->With less than six months to go for the general elections, political parties have started to scout for allies. New coalitions have firmed up in
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, which together send 81 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The Left parties, which have pockets of influence in these states, have taken the lead to stitch the new alliances. In a reversal of its priorities before the 2004 general elections, the Left has picked allies with the intention of defeating the Congress.
On Friday, the CPM and the CPI announced an alliance with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The two parties had earlier tied up with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh. In the 2004 general elections, the Left parties were part of the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu and supported the Congress in Andhra Pradesh. The alliances swept the elections in both states with 37 seats in Andhra and all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. The political understanding in the two southern states expanded and led to the formation of the UPA government at the Centre with the Left offering support from the outside. With the Left parties switching sides, the pattern in results could reverse. The indirect beneficiary of such a change if that happens would be the NDA.
The NDA, as of now, has a marginal presence in Andhra and Tamil Nadu. The BJP on its own has an insignificant presence in the region and is still to find allies. The Left, of course, wants to build a non-Congress, non-BJP front. It wants the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to head this amorphous third front and expects AIADMK and TDP to play a similar role in Tamil Nadu and Andhra. The Left expects its primary concerns anti-Americanism and secularism to provide the ideological glue for these parties to stay together. Surely, all these parties have paid lip service to both these agendas in the recent past. That, however, is no reason to believe that they would continue to do so in the future.
AIADMK, TDP and BSP have in the past allied with the BJP in the states and at the Centre. They don't share the Left's dogmatic view of the US as an "imperialist'' nation with whom India should have only adversarial relations. Unlike the Left, they do not subscribe to any well-defined ideology and are open to alliances of convenience. These parties, if they win a significant number of seats, may hold the key to government formation at the Centre in 2009. The result may not necessarily be to the Left's liking. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->With less than six months to go for the general elections, political parties have started to scout for allies. New coalitions have firmed up in
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, which together send 81 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The Left parties, which have pockets of influence in these states, have taken the lead to stitch the new alliances. In a reversal of its priorities before the 2004 general elections, the Left has picked allies with the intention of defeating the Congress.
On Friday, the CPM and the CPI announced an alliance with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu for the coming Lok Sabha elections. The two parties had earlier tied up with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh. In the 2004 general elections, the Left parties were part of the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu and supported the Congress in Andhra Pradesh. The alliances swept the elections in both states with 37 seats in Andhra and all 39 seats in Tamil Nadu. The political understanding in the two southern states expanded and led to the formation of the UPA government at the Centre with the Left offering support from the outside. With the Left parties switching sides, the pattern in results could reverse. The indirect beneficiary of such a change if that happens would be the NDA.
The NDA, as of now, has a marginal presence in Andhra and Tamil Nadu. The BJP on its own has an insignificant presence in the region and is still to find allies. The Left, of course, wants to build a non-Congress, non-BJP front. It wants the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to head this amorphous third front and expects AIADMK and TDP to play a similar role in Tamil Nadu and Andhra. The Left expects its primary concerns anti-Americanism and secularism to provide the ideological glue for these parties to stay together. Surely, all these parties have paid lip service to both these agendas in the recent past. That, however, is no reason to believe that they would continue to do so in the future.
AIADMK, TDP and BSP have in the past allied with the BJP in the states and at the Centre. They don't share the Left's dogmatic view of the US as an "imperialist'' nation with whom India should have only adversarial relations. Unlike the Left, they do not subscribe to any well-defined ideology and are open to alliances of convenience. These parties, if they win a significant number of seats, may hold the key to government formation at the Centre in 2009. The result may not necessarily be to the Left's liking. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->