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What Cong-SP alliance means | Have your say
Published on Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 07:24, Updated on Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 12:21 in Nation section
Tags: Indo-us Nuclear Deal, Congress
THE FINE PRINT: The panel -- Cong's Jayanthi Natarajan, CNN-IBN's Sagarika Ghose (C) and Bhupendra Chaubey.
It has been of the most dramatic U-turns in Indian politics. Samajwadi Party Chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav - someone who has been synonymous with anti-Congressism - has played the Kalam card to back the Inod-US Nuclear Deal.
The Samajwadi Party consulted former president APJ Abdul Kalam - a known supporter of the deal - and then asserted that the Indo-US Nuclear Deal is in the nation's interest. And just hours after stating that the UNPA is united, the Samajwadi Party is all set to ditch the Third Front and support the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre.
To discuss the issue on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation were MP and Congress Spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan; CNN-IBN National Bureau Chief Bhupendra Chaubey and Rajya Sabha MP and CPI National Secretary D Raja.
Bhupendra Chaubey began the discussion by saying one could see signals that the Samajwadi Party would support the UPA for some days now.
"Mulayam Singh Yadav was just biding his time because he did not want people to think that here was a party which ws ditching its old friends and thinking of making new ones only because it was lusting for power. So he came up with a very well-calculated, caliberated, step-by-step approach, finally leading up to the choice of APJ Abdul Kalam - who is an independent nuclear scientist and whose support to the deal is very well known," he said.
Nature of Support?
The question that everyone wants an answer to is: what kind of support is Mulayam Singh Yadav's party going to give to the UPA? Will it be issue-based support or a full-scale support?
To this, Bhupendra Chaubey said, "Right now, the SP just wants to get into some kind of a quid pro quo with the Congress only to control the growing clout of Mayawati's BSP in Uttar Pradesh. Now what kind of an alliance will emerge between the Congress and the SP - will itbe restricted to just UP, will it be only support over the N-deal, will the SP bail out COngress in case of a trust vote - is not clear yet. However, I think these are all secondary questions which will be answered once the Left has withdrawn support."
So what is the price that Congress is ready to pay for the support of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Will it be willing to ministership and make him a full-blown ally in UP at the electoral level?
Side-stepping the question, Jayanthi Natrajan said that it was early days yet and they had to be first sure that the SP was supporting the nuclear deal. She said that the Congress was still trying to convince the Left parties that the deal was in national interest.
"But whatever decision is taken, it will be taken on the principle that the Indo-US Nuclear Deal is very good for the country and in fact, very necessary for the country," she said.
Pragmatic Politics
Mulayam Singh Yadav is someone who had prevented Sonia Gandhi from becoming the Prime Minister and he has routinely called Sonia Gandhi a foreigner. How much can the Congress bank upon someone like him?
To this, Jayanthi Natrajan said, "We haven't yet heard from the Samajwadi Party, but if and when we do, it will be on the basis of the principle that the nuclear deal is good for India. I don't think that it is necessary to read more into this in terms of what price are we going to pay. I think it is a question of principle."
"Secondly, in politics, there are alignments and principles which change with the need of the time. I think that's pragmatic politics and that we need to go forward with dialogue. And as long as there is absolutely no compromise on principles - such as keeping communal forces at bay," she added.
Left Isolated?
If Mulayam Singh Yadav gives support to the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre in wake of the Left threat to withdraw, then the nuclear deal will go through and the Government will survive. The Left is now left with no choice but to withdraw support.
D Raja however said that the Left was not isolated in any way.
"As long as we are with the people, we will not be isolated. The deal is not in national interest at all, and if it was in national interest, we would have never opposed it," he stated.
He brushed aside the fact that APJ Abdul Kalam supported the deal saying that he knew scores of other scientists who were completey against the deal.
"It is not for one APJ Abdul Kalam to decide the destiny of this country," he said.
He refused to talk about Prakash Karat's dream of a non-Congress, non-BJP front - the Third Front. "The Third Front is a completely differnt issue. It is a perspective of all the Left parties. It will happen through people's movements, their actions and the basis of certain policy framework. It will take time," he said.
He said that the Left Front was meeting on Friday and that they would decide on when to withdraw support.
Corporates Backing SP?
There have been rumours that Mulayam Singh Yadav is supported by big corporates which is why he has been able to take a decision of ditching the UNPA and joining hands with the UPA Government at the Centre.
Jayanthi Natarajan said this was pure speculation. "This is politics and it would be very unfair to the Congress and the SP to take such speculations seriously. It's a totally political issue, we believe it is in the national interest and we look forward to support from others who agree with us," she said.
At the end of the discussion, what was clear was that the Congress is more or less prepared for a Left withdrawl and is looking towards joining hands with the SP. The till some time ago, was the epitome of anti-Congressism, but is now bailing the same party out of a tight spot - all in the name of pragmatic politics.
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