Maywati can play on all fronts: UPA, NDA, Third Front

May 3, 2009 bsp, nda, upa

If Congress is forgetting the bitterness to plump for SP in a haste, it is also because Mulayam Singh is expected to be more dependable as a coalition partner if only because of the limited options he has. The SP boss cannot have an overt partnership with BJP while he is wary of Third Front, which he sees as a packed house of ambitious satraps, and is critically dependent on Congress. A Third Front, without Mayawati, can be an option but not that attractive.

Mayawati is just the opposite. The Dalit maverick can play on all power fronts — UPA, Third Front and NDA.

With a good number in her bag, she is likely to first explore the leadership option with Third Front — her best bet as Congress and BJP would be scared of ceding a key leadership position to her for fear of its impact on their dalit and Brahmin votebanks nationally. But she can surprise with an innovative arrangement with UPA or NDA…More..

Tags: mayawati

The UPA still has an edge over NDA and Third Front

Apr 4, 2009 bjp, upa

As the elections draw near, there have been a few “honest admissions” by politicians about their party’s chances.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Sushma Swaraj, for instance, has acknowledged that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by her party, will not get a majority. She, however, believes that it will be able to secure the support of a few allies to cross the crucial half-way point of 272 MPs.

Like her, Prakash Karat of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has conceded that the so-called Third Front favoured by the Left may have to depend on the Congress to form a government.

The reason is that while the Congress will not help the Third Front to install Mayawati as prime minister, she, on her part, will veto any move by the Front to help the Congress to form a government…More

Tags: mayawati, pm candidate, prakash karat, Sushma Swaraj

Not Left UPA: Pawar

Apr 3, 2009 left, ncp, upa

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will get the “magic figure” after the Lok Sabha polls and be in a position to form the next government at the Centre.

Addressing the media after releasing the NCP’s manifesto here, Pawar made it clear that the UPA would select its leader who would be the next prime minister.

Pawar reiterated that Manmohan Singh was the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress party and not the UPA. He pointed out that it was the NCP which had suggested the name of Singh as the next prime minister. ..More..

Tags: sharad pawar

Is Third Front the Gabbar Singh of politics?

Apr 3, 2009 nda, upa

Remember the classic Sholay dialogue, “in the night when a child is crying, the mother says, go to sleep or Gabbar Singh will come.” A similar warning is now being echoed amongst India’s elite: only this time it isn’t some gun-toting dacoit who is spreading fear, but the prospect of a third front government that has India Inc and their political patrons scurrying for cover. The BJP calls it a ‘parking lot’, the Congress a recipe for anarchy; but is a third front government such a frightening idea?

It should be no surprise then that both the UPA and the NDA are going into elections 2009 in a shrunken state. Both, in a sense, are artificial coalitions, driven by political opportunism, and not through any common minimum programme as is claimed . Both reflect the complete dependence of the national parties on regional forces. Both mirror the declining role of the principal poles of Indian politics. Maybe, a non-Congress, non-BJP government will frighten away the investor a la Gabbar. But ironically, it may just be the final wake-up call the two main parties need to get their act together before its too late…More.

Tags: gabbar singh, Rajdeep Sardesail, sholay