Overlapping interests

The Congress’s negotiations with the Rashtriya Lok Dal for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election have been aimed at improving its chances in western UP among its largely agrarian,Jat base. This is significant,given that making and maintaining these symbiotic relationships hasn’t come easy to the Congress. This is the first alliance that Rahul Gandhi has personally negotiated — the Congress has clearly conceded it needs help in what could be one of its most crucial campaigns.

Though it was the first party to bring coalition politics into states (with power-sharing arrangements in Kerala,Maharashtra and Punjab),the Congress has not fully internalised the idea. It’s torn between its own sense of primacy and disdain of competitors,and the reality it faces in states like UP,where it has been a marginal force for almost three decades now. UP is central to the calculations of both big national parties — up till 1999,it directly decided the Delhi situation,with its girth in Parliament. The SP-BSP see-saw complicated that calculation later,but it’s still UP that is most attuned to changes in the national narrative. And so,both the Congress and the BJP are sparing no effort in their electioneering for this assembly poll,as they try and make it to the winning formation. This is part of the complex dance between big national parties and strong regional forces,and the Congress’s overtures are especially interesting,given the tension between its desire to rebuild its own local party machine and the necessity of reaching out to others,for now.

Though the Congress’s lack of a competitive organisation in UP is often pointed to,this scanty presence could also be its great asset there. There are not many feared and disliked candidates,and less icky associations for voters who have long been used to the SP-BSP stranglehold. The Congress may feel it can benefit from a hazy nostalgia mixed with a desire for change,given that its actual governing record in the state is too far back for anyone to remember. But in a state that has signalled its exhaustion with brazen identity politics,the Congress’s challenge,like every other party’s,is to put forth a constructive agenda for governance.