The developments in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh have cautioned non-NDA state governments, especially those that are maintaining a distance from the BJP and the Congress. These developments are not only uniting anti-BJP parties but also bringing arch-rivals like the AAP closer to the Congress in Parliament.
The BJP, which has not been able to strengthen the NDA, has been as yet unable to win over the anti-Congress parties in power in different states, as made clear by the reluctance of the AIADMK, the BJD, and even Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party, to join the NDA despite being friendly with the Centre.
After the victory in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had tried to check the AAP in Delhi, the JD(U)-RJD combine in Bihar and the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, but it lost the battle against the AAP and the JD(U)-RJD combine and was compelled to ally with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena in the Maharashtra Assembly after it emerged as number two on its own.
While the BJP is taking on the Congress openly, its next target is to regain lost ground in Orissa, win space in West Bengal and check the Samajwadi Party and the BSP in Uttar Pradesh. While the ruling BJD is treading cautiously by maintaining a distance from the BJP and the Congress, the regional parties have realised the BJP’s “sahi disha, spashth niti”.
The BJD, TMC, BSP and National Conference had earlier allied with the BJP when Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was its supreme leader. But its expansionist strategy has alerted current, past and prospective allies. This has become clear from the “independent” stands of the Shiv Sena and Akali Dal on national and state issues.
Currently the Congress, Left, JD(U)-RJD combine and DMK are together inside and outside Parliament, and the NCP and Jammu and Kashmir National Conference could join them at an “appropriate” time.
The SP, BSP, AIADMK and the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress come under the “unpredictable” category as they will not allow the national parties to expand in UP, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, respectively, at their cost.
And the Biju Janata Dal has succeeded so far in checking the BJP and the Congress in Orissa. The TDP and TRS, too, follow the same line in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
