Honour The Mandate
Congress is making a mistake by projecting President’s rule in UP
Union coal minister and Congress leader Sriprakash Jaiswal’s recent statement that the Congress will seek imposition of President’s rule in UP, if his party fails to secure a majority in the state, sends a negative signal to the electorate. Even Digvijay Singh recently underlined the possibility of President’s rule in UP, while Rahul Gandhi said during his campaign that the Congress would have no post-poll truck with any party. If the Congress leadership is contemplating imposition of President’s rule in UP in case of a hung assembly, nothing could be more disastrous.
The game plan that’s reportedly being advocated by a section of Congress leaders is to declare President’s rule, push in good bureaucrats, pump money into the state, and fuel fast-paced development that will stand the Congress in good stead around the time of the next Lok Sabha polls. That surely is desperate counsel. Congress already has a stake in governing many states, why can’t it pursue this strategy in the states it controls? What are the chances it will be able to do in UP what it can’t do in other states?
Besides, if President’s rule comes because the current Congress-RLD alliance is reluctant to share power with SP, the latter too would spurn the UPA government at the Centre, leaving it wholly at the mercy of the mercurial Mamata. That will, in all likelihood, disable the UPA from carrying out any significant policy initiatives in the run-up to the next Lok Sabha polls. Also, let’s not forget that elections are still underway in UP and massive voter turnouts reflect people’s aspirations for change and better governance. By holding out the prospect of President’s rule Congress is hurting its own cause, besides undermining electoral democracy.
The fundamental problem could be that Congress is still stuck in its 1998 Pachmarhi resolution mode, according to which it should eschew alliances and build its own strength. That is hardly advisable now, given Congress’s dipping popularity due to big-ticket scams as well as stagflationary conditions in the economy. What makes things worse is Congress’s inability to project a definite chief ministerial candidate in UP, behind whom support for the party can consolidate. The party needs to realise that it has no alternative other than building coalitions at the state level. RLD is too minor a player to matter.
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