Dear Editor,
Fissures in I.N.D.I.A. block are quite visible. It is not unusual when ideologically different parties come together for political gains. Ideological conflicts cannot keep the parties of different hues together. Uneasy alliance is the outcome of every party keeping its interest above. Soft Hindutva by Congress has caused consternation among other parties. Congress seems to be realizing that Hindus cannot be discarded. Appeasement of minorities and soft Hindutva must go hand in hand for Congress party. Kamal Nath has made U-turn on Mandir. He has expressed happiness with his strategic remark ahead of Lok Sabha polls. This is not good news for other partners of I.N.D.I.A. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah sees internal squabbles among I.N.D.I.A. constituents. The arrest of its MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira by AAP has not gone down well with the Congress party in a 2015 drugs case. Surely, I.N.D.I.A. pot has been boiling. Nitish Kumar is sore over lack of progress over seat-sharing. He has accused the Congress of being busy with the upcoming Assembly elections. Kumar has rightly assessed that Congress has not been in preparation mode for Lok Sabha elections. His view point is buttressed with the infighting in Congress in Karnataka between the Siddaramaiah faction and D.K. Shivakumar faction. When Shivakumar staked his claim for chief ministership, the Congress high command pacified him with an assurance that the first 30 months would be ruled by Siddaramaiah and the second 30 months would be ruled by him. But Siddaramaiah has asserted that he would be the chief minister for the rest of the term also. This has caused bitterness in the mind of Shivakumar and his followers. The high command had deputed Surjewala and Venugopal to arbitrate between the feuding Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. Stern warning has been issued by them not to air anything in the public fearing that any infighting assuming alarming proportions in the party would adversely affect on the performance in the Lok Sabha election. There is analogy between Kumaraswamy agreeing for transition of power to Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah agreeing for transition of power to Shivakumar after completion of 30 months. The only difference is that it was an agreement between two different parties viz., BJP and JDS. Now it is between two leaders of the same party viz., Congress. BJP could easily dislodge the Kumaraswamy government by withdrawing its support. Same party leader dislodging the same party Chief Minister is not as easy as a different party dislodging the government run by another party. It is possible if D.K. Shivakumar can make Karnataka’s Eknath Shinde. Attention for power-sharing after 30 months has deflected the attention of Congress for preparation to the Lok Sabha election. This is worrisome to Kumar. Now it is inevitable for Kumar to wait till the Assembly elections in other states are over. I.N.D.I.A. is likely to disintegrate if it fails to come to power at the centre. I.N.D.I.A. holding together is fragile in nature. Obviously all is not well in I.N.D.I.A.
K.V. Seetharamaiah
