Supping with the corrupt

October 16, 2010 11:27:09 PM

Kalyani Shankar

Manmohan Singh and his UPA Government are under increasing attack for scams and scandals exemplified by the Telecom Minister’s loot. But the Congress refuses to confront corruption in the Government. Is it because of the lure of power that probity has taken a back seat?

The current Budget session has shown the growing friction between the Congress and its allies. Whether it is about the IPL scam or the 2G spectrum scam or the telephone tapping controversy, it is the Manmohan Singh Government which is facing the flak.

Old-timers admit that it is a difficult task to run a coalition Government especially when all the allies have come together for the single purpose of sharing power. The Congress never believed in coalition experiment and is yearning to rule on its own.

What is the common ground between the NCP, the Trinamool Congress and the DMK? All of them are regional parties trying to satisfy their regional aspirations while the Congress is a national party. Ironically, some of the partners like the NCP and the Trinamool Congress are the offsprings of the Congress and out of sheer political compulsions they all came together. Unlike the UPA 1.0, the UPA 2.0 does not even have a common minimum programme.

The Congress has learnt the hard way to close its eyes to whatever its allies do. During the UPA 1.0, it had difficulty in getting rid of JMM chief Shibu Soren. In the UPA 2.0, the Prime Minister is unable to control his Ministers like Mr MK Azhagiri, Mr A Raja and even Ms Mamata Banerjee.

The problem for Mr Manmohan Singh is three-fold. First, the real power rests with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Mr Singh is only the nominated Prime Minister but he is the one who faces the music.

Second, the Prime Minister is in no position to deal with the Ministers chosen by the allies, as they are not under his control. That is why he could not get rid of Mr A Raja despite corruption charges against him.

Third, the Budget session began with the Congress losing two of its allies — the Samajwadi Party and the RJD on the issue of Women’s Reservation Bill. Many wondered why the Congress tabled the Bill before the Finance Bill. The result is that the Government now has a fragile number of just 271. Without the support of the Left and the Right it would not have got the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha and without the support of the BSP, the Government would have collapsed on the Finance Bill. Neither the Congress nor Mr Singh has the luxury of annoying the allies. While the Congress was prompt in getting rid of Mr Shashi Tharoor, it has distanced itself from senior Ministers like Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Raja leaving it to the Prime Minister to deal with them.

The real problem is that the Congress wants to gain back its lost ground while the allies want to expand at the cost of the former. This inherent contradiction is the root cause of Congress’s friction with the NCP, the Trinamool Congress and the DMK though they are together at the Centre. As Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where the Congress is a minor partner, will go for Assembly elections next year, the party cannot afford to upset its allies.

The Congress and the NCP have had a love-hate relationship despite 10 years of coalition politics both at the Centre and States like Maharashtra, Goa and Meghalaya. Last year’s Assembly and Lok Sabha elections have shown how the two try to weaken each other. The recent IPL controversy has brought two NCP Ministers — Mr Sharad Pawar and Mr Praful Patel — into focus. On the issue of spiralling price rise, the Congress made Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar the fall guy. Then came the telephone tapping controversy where the Government was on the dock for allegedly tapping Mr Pawar’s phone. Although the Government played it down, the frictions remain.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s mercurial behaviour often provokes local Congress leaders. With the Assembly elections scheduled for next year the Congress is unable to deal with her tantrums. In a big blow to the Congress, Ms Banerjee has managed to get State Congress working president Subroto Mukherjee join the Trinamool Congress. The Kolkata corporation elections will be an acid test for their future relationship with the Trinamool Congress going it alone. But the bottom line is that both know that Ms Banerjee needs the Congress to become the Chief Minister and the Congress needs the TMC to improve its tally.

The DMK-Congress relationship is also peculiar. DMK chief M Karunanidhi has put his foot down against any move to sack Mr Raja. The Prime Minister can do nothing as getting rid of Mr Raja means losing power. Moreover, Mr Karunanidhi’s family problems are visiting the Government, as he is unable to deal with his succession plan and divide power between his children - Mr MK Stalin, Mr MK Azhagiri and Ms MK Kanimozhi.

Furthermore, Assembly elections are due next year and Mr Karunanidhi wants to advance it to the end of this year. Local Congress leaders are unhappy that despite the Congress support the DMK has not included Congress MLAs in his Cabinet. If Mr Rahul Gandhi has his way, the Congress would like to go it alone in the elections while the arithmetic says alliance with a Dravidian party would earn better dividends. There are some in the Congress who would like to align with the AIADMK.

Political parties look to their interests first just as the UPA allies as well as the Congress do. However, the overriding principle will be the power and all the stake-holders know this. But no one should be in doubt about the future of the UPA, as the frictions will not reach a breaking point.

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