BJP plans rally to keep flock together

The Congress leaders’ appreciation of one NDA constituent or the other has set alarm bells ringing in the BJP, prompting the party to organise a grand rally of the alliance in Lucknow on May 10 to signal to others that its flock is together.

The Congress-led UPA and the BJP-led NDA, unsure of securing a majority even as the general election enters its penultimate phase on Thursday, have started posturing to attract more allies and split the rival formation.

For the past few days, BJP leaders have been playing on the theme that the “UPA is splitting”, “Congress is realising it will not get a majority” and that the “Congress does not know coalition dharma”.

The effort is to keep its allies together and dissuade others from aligning with the Congress and draw them to the NDA. The BJP has already started talks with parties outside the NDA for the expected post-poll scenario of a hung parliament.

The exercise is also to add to its strength and counter the possibility of allies, such as “centre of attention” the Janata Dal (United), parting ways, though the BJP discounts this possibility in view of the fact that the JD(U)-led government in Bihar depends on it for survival and chief minister Nitish Kumar is unlikely to give up his chair to make someone else prime minister.

But Nitish has dropped enough hints that he may not dump the BJP or go with the Congress, but could choose to go with a non-Congress, non-NDA Third Front government. The Left has also been talking to him.

The Congress has been making overtures to the JD(U) and has also expressed hope of getting Left support post-poll. With general secretary Rahul Gandhi also giving such indications on Tuesday, the BJP launched a counter-offensive. Party general secretary Arun Jaitley attacked the Congress for its treatment of allies, “forgetting that supporters have a right to share power”.

“The NDA allies get a share at the Centre and they give us share in power in the states. The Congress is not ready to share power. It has a ‘grab all’ tendency,” he said.

On Wednesday, the reaction of Mamata Banerjee in Bengal to Congress feelers to the Left prompted the BJP to hammer home the point. “We are only warning UPA constituents that this is the real character of the Congress: to ditch allies,” party spokesman Prakash Jawdekar said.

“The UPA was already disintegrating and the Congress has started mistreating even the few allies that remain,” he added.

As for its own lot, amid the Congress attempts to poach on JD(U), the BJP also sought to emphasise that its key ally remained with the NDA and Nitish Kumar will campaign for alliance candidates in Punjab from May 10 when he will be free from his duties in Bihar. He will campaign for the NDA in Punjab, including Jalandhar and Ludhiana, which have a sizeable population of Bihari migrants. He will also attend the NDA rally.