As the Samajwadi Party and Kalyan Singh are both

realising, coalitions of the willing aren’t always easy to engineer; especially between previously estranged parties. Not so long back, much of political spadework rested on winning away key players from one’s rivals, never mind the squirm-inducing ideological U-turns it forced on both sides. As political parties scrabble to assemble coalitions, we know that almost any combination will pass muster. My enemy’s enemy is my friend has long been considered acceptable logic, and there is minimum attempt to provide an ideological rationale, as erstwhile foes effortlessly get together.

But that kind of gotcha politics is, hearteningly, proving to be a harder sell if the Kalyan Singh-SP contortions are any indication. Kalyan Singh’s loudly advertised antipathy to the BJP may not help his new friends or impress an electorate that still associates him with the Babri Masjid demolition; and for all of Amar Singh’s Deoband visits, this association is proving extremely unpalatable (note that Mulayam Singh and Kalyan Singh have been team-mates previously, with far less resistance). Could this indicate a new impatience with blatant power-mongering? Recently, during the parliamentary trust vote, when Shahid Siddiqui switched positions with eel-like ease, he was mocked mercilessly by the press and public — but will actions like that come with electoral consequences?

Of course, this is not to advocate ideological rigor mortis or disable political mobility — in a changing situation, political leaders must be free to shift stances and partners. It is, sometimes, right to be disloyal. But certain kinds of cynical compromise, based solely on careerism and petty personal

... contd.