Farewell NDA? After HJC and Sena, BJP now readying to dump Akali Dal

As it realises its goal of being the dominant national party in India, is the BJP slowly ridding itself of its allies? The party dumped the Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC-BL) in Haryana before state assembly polls, and in a shock decision also severed its 25-year-old Mahayuti alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra just ahead of polls. And now it looks like the BJP’s Punjab partners, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are next on the block. According to this report in the Economic Times :

On Wednesday, Punjab BJP affairs in-charge Ramshankar Katheria said if the “situation develops like that in Haryana”, BJP may fight the upcoming assembly polls due in 2017 on its own. Katheria’s statement comes close on the heels of reports that the party might ask its chief parliamentary secretaries to resign in the next few days since they hardly have any say in the decision-making.

[caption id=“attachment_1790293” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Is Badal’s BJP next on the block? AFP[/caption] According to the Times of India, Katheria, who made the comments during a press conference, added, “Our Punjab leaders have shared their issues. Most of them feel the BJP ministers and MLAs do not get enough respect in their departments and have no say in the government”. In the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, the SAD-BJP coalition, which was battling a strong anti-incumbency sentiment, barely managed to hold on to power. It was widely believed that the only factor that saved the alliance was the predominance of the ‘Modi wave’ that swept the rest of the country. If this is the case, the BJP can scarcely be faulted for maybe wanting to contest the next polls on their own steam. SAD general secretary MS Grewal tried to play it cool,  telling ET , “The SAD and BJP alliance is an emotional one. But if BJP plans to go solo, it’s up to them”. But the truth is that the SAD’s dilemma may be self-inflicted. Its decision to run against the BJP in Haryana and make Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal its star campaigner in the assembly elections in the neighbouring state did not sit well with the BJP. In fact, Anil Vij, a BJP member of the Haryana legislative assembly, told Firstpost then that it was not proper for Badal to campaign because SAD is a part of the NDA at the Centre and it should not do anything to harm BJP’s interest. “We have urged the central leadership of the BJP to stop Badal from campaigning for the INLD. We have explained out position to the party high command and it is up to it to dissuade Badal from campaigning", he said. And although there was no immediate reaction from the BJP, the events that unfolded yesterday may well be a result of the SAD’s actions. Coming in the middle of its tussle with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, however, will a break with Akali Dal cement the BJP’s reputation for ‘using and throwing’ regional allies? The party’s hard stance with the Sena, for instance, has given at least some credence to the Shiv Sena’s cries of betrayal. The Sainiks has been pushed so far against the wall, in fact, that they are preparing to sit in the opposition. Firstpost reporter Vishwas Waghmode quoted a Sena leader as saying, “All the 63 newly elected MLAs of the party have unanimously told party president Uddhav Thackeray that they are prepared to sit in opposition if the BJP pushes the party too far. We have done whatever was possible from our end. We agreed to all of BJP’s terms and went to Delhi to speak to BJP leaders”. If they also rid themselves of the SAD, it will be the third regional party that the BJP would have dumped in quick succession. Firstpost editor R Jagannathan warned in this column , that the BJP should not assume that its rise is inevitable or that its growth is inexorable. “Broadly speaking, the Modi-Shah strategy seems to be to tie up with the smaller parties (LJP in Bihar, AJSU in Jharkhand, Apna Dal in UP, etc) and give the bigger allies a tough time. But there are limits to this strategy, as the normal Indian tendency is to ensure that the biggest party does not become too powerful”, he said. The danger is that the BJP may be getting carried away by the heady exhilaration of its current status as the most powerful party in India – and jeopardising its long-term interests which lie in keeping its friends close at hand. Political realities rarely remain the same. Allies that seem like a burden today may one day be vital to political success. A prime minister who prizes loyalty above all other virtues should know too well the dangers of being a fair-weather friend.