BJP's irresponsible behaviour providing oxygen to Congress

The BJP is just helping the Congress in finding an escape route. The attacking stance that the main Opposition party has taken to corner the UPA government will undoubtedly backfire in no time and put the saffron party in a great disadvantage. What is BJP trying to gain by taking such an aggressive position? By causing the country suffer heavily everyday, it is by no means playing the role of a responsible Opposition in a parliamentary democracy.

What BJP is trying to do in the name of creating pressure on the UPA government is actually exposing its own poor state. The BJP will never be successful in making Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resign. That is entirely out of the question.

BJP never succeeded in cornering Sonia

The BJP had failed to corner the Congress on the leadership issue in 2004 when it was replaced from power at the Centre by Congress-led by Sonia Gandhi. They will fail this time as well even though it is an established fact that Manmohan Singh, despite a man of integrity, has failed to ensure a transparent and efficient governance. BJP's storming out of the JPC or threatening to resign en-masse from the Parliament are not going to earn it any dividends but will only add to prevailing chaos and lead to an unstable situation.

The BJP's behaviour shows that it is desperate to go to the elections and is getting frustrated for the cause. But, as an opposition, you can not just eye the elections but take note of the well-being of the constitutional and parliamentary politics. The BJP clearly lacks a leader and the magnetic power to manage a coalition power to work in its favour. It is difficult to imagine today that a politician of the stature of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was its leader some day.

A frustrated lot with little logical thinking

The threat to resign en-masse will not work. In 1989, the Opposition had quit to corner the Congress over the Bofors scandal but today, who is going to lead the pack? The BJP is too much fragmented to effect a consensus. Even some leaders within the BJP expressed concern over such thoughts. They fear that a section in the BJP was desperate for the general elections before Narendra Modi made his prominence felt on the national stage after the Gujarat polls scheduled later this year. Then who is actually the BJP fighting for? The common people or its own narrow, vested interest?

The Congress has clearly capitalised on BJP's obduracy and ineffective stance. It has sought a debate and hit back at the BJP saying chief ministers of states which were ruled by the latter had opposed the coal bidding effort.

BJP has forgotten rules of democracy

The BJP, which seems to have turned restless with two consecutive poll defeats at the national level and is unlikely to win a decisive mandate in 2014, has forgotten the basic rules of parliamentary democracy. The party could have decided to mobilise public support against the Centre on corruption and raise an uproar to gain a moral advantage, but stalling the Parliament for days and sticking to its demand for the PM's resignation is undesirable in a democratic culture.

The BJP has fared disastrously in its parliamentary campaign time and again. Few days ago, it scored a same-side goal by calling the government 'illegitimate' while trying to protest over the northeast problem. It is unfortunate that a senior leader like LK Advani made such a baffling remark.

The BJP had all the ingredients to win the battle against the Congress but it decided to squander the opportunity. A parallel can be drawn with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal when it was in the opposition. The belligerence of the mercurial leader, Mamata Banerjee, vis-a-vis the then ruling Left Front government, had led to such a stalemate that it was the state of West Bengal and its people who stood the biggest losers. History is repeating itself, this time at the capital.

BJP's fragile alliance can not dethrone the Congress

The BJP has enough reason to find itself frustrated. It does not have a strong alliance and the numbers to topple the Congress straightaway. We talk about the problems between the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, the two biggest constituents of the UPA, but the state of the BJP-led NDA is more pathetic. The alliance is turning thinner for there is no central force to bind it together. The party is in a shambles in states like Karnataka and Jharkhand, where it has been hit by problems in the party and alliance.

The administrative leadership of Narendra Modi and his development model in Gujarat are the only factors that the BJP has to show but that is something entirely related to the initiative of Modi and the people of Gujarat. As a party, the BJP has succeeded little in nurturing leaders to repeat what Modi has done in terms of development in other parts of the country.

BJP running out of partners?

A desperate BJP is trying to woo UPA allies to desert the Congress and tilt in its favour. But most of the parties in India today feel apprehensive to make an alliance with the BJP owing to the latter's 'extremist ideology'. Parties like Samajwadi Party (SP) and Trinamool Congress, despite all differences with the Congress, will still prefer the latter as an ally, for the 'secular' Congress is a better bet when it comes to ensure the minority vote bank.

The JD(U), which although is an ally in the NDA, also has its problems with the BJP on the question of a 'secular leadership'. The Left parties, too, prefer the 'communal' BJP less than the 'corrupt' Congress. The Congress, despite all its drawbacks, hence outdoes the BJP owing to its centrist stance in Indian politics.

The two important players from the UP, SP and BSP, will not easily think on the lines of dumping the Congress if they think on a stronger poll alliance and it will keep the BJP at a bay to form the government at the Centre in the future. Parties like the BJD, AIADMK and TDP are also trying to corner the Congress but that does not necessarily mean that they will ally with the BJP in the immediate future.

The BJP's strategy is unlikely to pay off. Advani's prediction of a non-Congress, non-BJP PM in the next election is not entirely without a basis. And what is more likely is that the new incumbent might be more dependent on the Congress rather than the BJP. What's the party's take on this?