The abject defeat of the Congress in most Assembly elections recently has caused dissensions in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA). There are disgruntled constituents in the UPA like the Trinamool Congress which is out to take advantage of the Congress predicament and maximise its bargaining power. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to speak to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to dissuade her from attending the oath-taking ceremonies of Punjab’s Prakash Singh Badal and UP’s Akhilesh Yadav who had trounced the Congress in the Assembly elections in the two states. There have been many other rifts in the UPA’s internal relations especially with the Trinamool’s negativism. The fissure was so deep that there was talk of the formation of a third front comprising unhappy UPA and NDA parties.
The UPA has itself to blame for the discord in it. It has no effective consultative mechanism to thrash out controversial issues. The Congress is not in close communication with its allies. The latest instance is the party’s about-face on cotton exports. It revoked the ban on cotton exports within a week of its imposition. NCP Minister Sharad Pawar had his hackles up for not being consulted in the matter. Earlier, Mamata Banerjee had sharp differences with the Centre for not being taken in confidence on the Teesta water sharing agreement with Bangladesh. Admittedly, the Congress is not solely to blame. Other allies have an obligation to do their best to ensure UPA cohesion. They have been consistently opposing most Central policy decisions-FDI in multibrand retail to GST—even though the Congress consults them on these issues.
