Why is the Congress going solo?

An informative article by DK Singh.

The Congress’s decision to not have a national alliance with any party is part of its strategy to regain its lost glory, writes Even as the party’s heir apparent is working on a plan to regain the party’s lost glory, the Congress is hoping to emerge as the single largest party in the 2009 election and lead the next government.Last Wednesday, as the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) was bracing to leave the UPA to align with the AIADMK, Union Minister Kapil Sibal said, “Every regional party jostles for space and wants to throw out the national party (from the state). Similarly, the national party does not want to give them space at the national level. This has been there in every election and will continue to be so.” While he was talking of the reality of coalition politics, his remarks explained the grand old party’s positioning vis-à-vis its allies since the Congress Working Committee (CWC)’s decision on January 29 not to have any national alliance with any party.
The following days witnessed the emergence of a ‘new Congress’ that was demanding and assertive in its approach to regional partners. It had suddenly undergone a complete transformation—from being a mendicant alliance partner who had agreed to contest just four of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar in 2004 to a “self-respecting” national party whose president Sonia Gandhi refused to entertain a request for appointment from the same leader after he cut a deal with LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan to offer merely three seats to the Congress in Bihar.
While Congress sources maintained Lalu’s request was “still under consideration”, an embarrassed RJD chief tried to argue that he had never sought an appointment. On March 17, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav made overtures to the Congress to enter into a pre-poll alliance in UP . “I am ready for talks (on seat sharing) if the Congress wants,” Mulayam said in Lucknow. “The SP has already put out candidates. Where is the scope for talks,” replied Digvijay Singh, AICC general secretary in charge of UP, in Delhi the same day. The SP was ready to give 17 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP to the Congress—which had won just nine out of 71 seats it had contested in 2004—but the ruling party at the Centre wanted many more in the form of friendly contests.
In the months leading to elections in 2004, Sonia had gone out of the way to forge new alliances, calling on CPM leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet, calling up M. Karunanidhi to congratulate him on pulling out of NDA, driving down to NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s home, walking across to her neighbour Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s residence, and driving down to BSP leader Mayawati’s Humayun Road residence to greet her on her birthday.
In 2009, however, when UPA partners were crying foul about the CWC decision, there was not even a conciliatory statement from the grand old party. While it worked hard to stitch up an alliance with the NCP in Maharashtra, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand—and unsuccessfully tried to stop the PMK from walking out of DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu—it showed no such flexibility when it came to its seat-sharing talks with regional parties in the cow belt. Congress sources attributed this change in the Congress’s attitude towards its alliance partners to AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi’s long-term plan to revive the party in the cow belt—the party’s old bastion that had slipped out of its hold.
So when the CWC decided to have only state-specific alliances this year, the writing on the wall was clear. “Rahulji had gone to Bihar in September last year to visit flood-affected areas. He found his party non-existent there. He wanted the party to at least make a beginning in the state and it could not happen if the party remained RJD’s doormat,” said a senior Congress leader close to Rahul.
“Rahul is ready to sit in the Opposition for five years, but he wants the party to follow a long-term objective,” said a young party MP. While Rahul, who wanted the party to field young candidates on ‘losing seats’, forwarded a list of candidates recommended by the Youth Congress and the NSUI to those in charge of ticket distribution, he is not making any decisive intervention. While other leaders are focusing on the 2009 election, Rahul is touring the country in a bid to reach out to the youth. “He is working on a long-term plan to revive the party. He is looking at 2014, not 2009,” said a Congress leader.
Since 1998, when Sonia Gandhi took over the reins of the Congress, there has been a constant soul-searching in the party. While it was forced to accept the necessity of entering into a coalition arrangement, the yearning for past glory never died. At an AICC session in New Delhi in November 2007, the party’s resolution and Sonia Gandhi’s remarks betrayed the party’s ambition. “Coalition means positive support from all sides. But working in a coalition does not mean we lose our political space forever,” Sonia Gandhi said in her address at the AICC session. “Such a coalition cannot be at the cost of revival of the Congress, particularly in States where its base had eroded,” said the party’s resolution.
A survey carried out by an agency hired by the Congress had given it 185 seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, according to insiders. The survey had, however, been carried when the RJD, the LJP and the PMK were with the Congress. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy has assured the high command that the party would retain at least 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh. The feedback from Gujarat is “satisfying” as party leaders expect to retain 10 of the 12 seats it won in 2004. The DMK’s position in Tamil Nadu is “not bad”, although the PMK’s exit from the alliance is considered a “setback”. The Congress had received positive feedback from most of the states, except Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. While the party hopes to gain in the Left bastions of West Bengal and Kerala, the BJP’s preoccupation with its internal squabbles was also a positive from the Congress’s point of view. “If the party has to revive itself in UP and Bihar, this is the right time to start finding our feet,” said a CWC member.