PM uneasy with coalitions

Vajpayee's unease with coalitions continues, allies keep chin up

After mastering the art of managing shaky coalitions through trial and error over three tenures, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is making his unease about large multi-party combines increasingly obvious.

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His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says it wants a majority only for more efficient and quick decision-making, not because it has anything at all against its numerous allies.

And the BJP's allies maintain that coalitions are everybody's compulsion for now, whether they like it or not.

In a series of statements at different forums, Vajpayee has spoken out against large unwieldy coalitions, urging the people to give his party a decisive mandate in the ongoing parliamentary elections and not to scatter their votes.

Two days after Vajpayee again made a plea for a comprehensive majority for the BJP for the sake of stability in an interview with All India Radio (AIR), allies said they agreed -- they had no choice in the matter.

The Trinamool chief's tantrums and her party's now-in-now-out status in the BJP-led coalition could easily be one of the reasons for Vajpayee's worry about coalitions.

In his interview with AIR, Vajpayee said: "The nation wants a stable government and there are no two opinions on this. If one party gets the numbers to form a stable government, it will be good for the country."

But he admitted: "... there are no signs of that now. We are again going towards a coalition government."

This is only days after he told a weekend public rally in Nagpur, Maharashtra, that he was tired of running a government of 22 parties and was apprehensive.

"My worry is that if we are again saddled with a 22-party coalition, it will not be good. Such a situation is better avoided. The country needs stability. So make up your minds," the prime minister said, causing a flutter.

He had also made similar appeals for a majority for the BJP in his own constituency Lucknow, where he warned of an unstable government if votes were scattered.

Trivedi said: "I do not blame the prime minister or the BJP. In politics nobody is generous. We are not in competition with the BJP. We are all partners but the BJP is the senior partner, no doubt about it."

The dynamics are such today that nobody can form a single party government.

"At the end of the day, it is the verdict of the people, and one feels people want checks and balances. They do not want to give absolute power to one party," said another pro-BJP politician who did not want to be identified.

BJP leaders have, after Vajpayee's remarks, repeatedly assured that even if the party won a majority, it would be the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that would come to power.

BJP spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi explained: "If the BJP has a strong majority, decision making will be faster and not be held ransom to the slow process of consultation with so many allies."

A Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MP, also not wishing to be named, pointed out that the BJP already had major say in the details of governance, including the budget, despite the outward appearance of a broad consensus.

Reacting to Vajpayee's assertions, minister Sharad Yadav of the JD-U has said: "I think now there are less chances of a single party coming to power. Coalitions are the reality."

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, which only supports the coalition from outside, said regardless of whether the coalition came to power or not, it would back the BJP.

"We will support even a BJP government," TDP member D. Ramachandraiah said.

The BJP-led coalition has constantly changed shape since 1998, when it took power for the second time, and in 1999 for a regime that was to last five years.

Vajpayee's third coalition government was often described as a whirling revolving door. Just before the current elections, only a dozen of the original fellow travellers remained.

Parties that walked out include DMK, MDMK, PMK, Lok Janshakti Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, National Conference and Indian National Lok Dal.

The NDA began with 17 prominent parties in 1999. More joined to raise the number to 24 after Vajpayee took oath. The Trinamool walked out and rejoined.

But unlike previous coalitions that ruled India, the mild-mannered Vajpayee, despite many doubts among both his critics and admirers, had virtually completed his five-year tenure when he called for early elections.