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Congress wakes up to reality of Opposition politics

George Iype in New Delhi

Hours after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government was voted out of power, the pulls and pressures of putting together a new coalition and the pangs of forming a stable government at the Centre ripped apart the Opposition parties.

The main players in the new game -- the Congress, Left front, All India Anna DMK, Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha and Bahujan Samaj Party -- groped in the dark as differences of opinion and demands for the inclusion and exclusion of one another in a fresh coalition marked day one.

The Congress, the second largest party in Parliament, after days of dithering, finally abandoned its Pachmarhi declaration and jumped the gun by publicly stating that it is ready to form a new coalition government.

Smelling power at their door-steps after a gap of three years, most Congress leaders were unanimous in their view that party president Sonia Gandhi should become the next prime minister.

The apex Congress Working Committee that met on Saturday night unanimously entrusted Gandhi with the task of forming a new coalition and leading the alternative government.

"After the BJP, the Congress has the largest number of MPs in Parliament. Therefore, it is imperative that the Congress takes the initiative and forms the next government," CWC member and senior party leader Rajesh Pilot told Rediff On The Net.

Pilot also made it cleat that being president of the Congress Parliamentary Party, "Sonia Gandhi is the party's natural prime ministerial candidate."

"CWC wants Soniaji to be the next prime minister and lead the country. However, a decision to this effect will be taken only after we work out the shape of the new coalition in consultation with all other alliance partners," the Congress leader added.

But the nitty-gritty of piecing together the proposed coalition led by the Congress is going to be a daunting task for Sonia and her new-found partner, AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalitha as problems have begun to haunt them since Vajpayee resigned.

The Congress has put forward two options for forming the next government. One, a minority Congress government led by Sonia and supported from outside by all other alliance partners. Second, a viable coalition led by the Congress and inclusive of AIADMK, RLM and BSP and supported by the Left parties.

While most new coalition partners have rejected the first option forthright, only the Left front is supporting the second option.

RLM leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has refused to accept Sonia as a prime ministerial candidate. Left partners like the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party with seven MPs have declared that they will not support any government in which the AIADMK is a partner.

Jayalalitha has sought active participation and seven ministerial posts in any new government. She is also likely to demand important portfolios like finance or home for her chief negotiator and close confidant, Janata Party president Dr Subramanian Swamy.

"We are plagued by contradictions and problems from day one. Therefore, the emergence of a new coalition is going to be painful," a Congress functionary told Rediff On The Net.

While the task of forming the next government have begun to worry Sonia and other important players, President K R Narayanan is all set to take crucial decisions to ensure that the new coalition is stable and viable.

Rashtrapati Bhavan officials said the President will ask the Congress-led Opposition to submit to him a list of more than 270 MPs to prove that they have the requisite majority in the Lok Sabha. This is important, especially in the wake of the neck-to-neck fight that led to the collapse of the Vajpayee government.

If the Congress-led Opposition fails to mop up the majority numbers before the President, Narayanan in all likelihood will ask Vajpayee to continue as caretaker prime minister till a mid-term poll takes place later in the year.

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