The Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) running the government at the Centre for the second consecutive term appears to be losing its charm as a viable political alternative or is it? With another General Election not too far away now, the restlessness of some of its allies—the Trinamool Congress and the National Congress Party (NCP)—is therefore not surprising. There is a lot to do with perception and right now the mood in the country seems to be that the Congress led UPA government has simply not delivered and instead it has been burdened with a string of corruption charges. Then there is the other perception of policy paralysis in the UPA government as a result of difficult allies, especially the Trinamool Congress, which has been opposing key economic decisions. And now with the 2014 election only months away, the non-Congress allies within the UPA have started to distance itself from the ‘corrupt, non-performing UPA’, which strangely they have also been part and parcel of. However parties like the TC or the NCP can always lay blame on the Congress for the UPA’s failure. So obviously it makes sense for these parties to wash its hands off the UPA regime and look at new strategies for the coming elections. But then again, the non-Congress parties within the present UPA regime will also do well to realize whether they can flourish as independent entities without being part of either the UPA or the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). So if the NCP, TC or say the DMC wants to leave the UPA, will they be willing, to join the NDA led by the BJP? The idea of the third front is too farfetched and it would seem that the people of this country have already rejected this in 2008.
If one may recall, in the run up to the last general election, many of the present Congress allies distanced themselves from the Congress and even contested against each other in the States. But once the Congress emerged as the single largest party with the best prospect of forming a government, everything else becomes immaterial. Only power matters and perhaps it will be the same thing over again with smaller parties aligning with either the Congress or BJP led alliances depending on who has the numbers and is able to form a stable government. And this is the reason why we may never see the virtue of loyalty as part of the political game. As rightly said, in politics, there are no permanent friends or enemies but only permanent interests. But then the question also arises as to why parties like the TC or the NCP seems to be interested only at 2014. Don’t they have a responsibility to provide a government for the people of this country till the end of the full term? There is still two years or so remaining and it does not make a good impression to jump ship just because the government, which they have been part and parcel of, is looking like sinking. It is not just the Congress or the Prime Minister but even the allies would have to be made accountable. So the perception is not only about corruption or policy paralysis within the UPA but failure to focus on people's issues as a result of internal squabbles created by its (Congress) alliance partners. More than the Congress, it is the smaller parties who may run the risk of losing popular support as people will assume that they are not reliable and it will be wastage to give votes to such parties
