Coalition politics at the turn of the century looked mature, despite the Congress still dreaming of governing India on its own. The NDA remained well-set despite minor aberrations, because the BJP’s sphere of support and geographical spread was limited. The BJP willy-nilly accepted its regional partners’ spheres of influence and was modest about promoting its interests.

The Congress-led alliance too faces strong limitations. The Congress remains the only national party with the ambition to regain its lost space of one-party domination. Therefore, both at the national and state levels, its interests clash with those of its coalition partners. Not quite adept at sharing the fruits of power, the party annoyed its partners when it cornered most of the gubernatorial and other positions.

The Left’s ambition to establish itself beyond its three citadels is already in evidence. It also has a larger-than-life self-image. It is not surprising that as soon as the young brigade led by Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury took over the reins of the party, they unambiguously expressed expansion plans for the party. They also violated each of the three coalition norms mentioned above in going eloquently public in their opposition to several of the government policies. In certain cases, they even took to streets. Obviously, operating in the ruling coalition from the ‘opposition’ space has been a well-thought-out policy of the Left, with the confidence that even if they keep rocking the boat, the Congress will keep sailing cautiously in order to remain in power.

The Congress, for its part, has been circumspect with the Left. It has been careful not to rub the Left up the wrong way on West Bengal politics even though it has a stake in regaining the state. Even on Nandigram, it did not criticise the Bengal government’s handling of the issue. The party also gave in to the Left’s pressure on the selection of presidential and vice-presidential candidates. It is not surprising, therefore, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was driven to taking on the Left over the nuclear deal.

... contd.