BJP wooing regional parties to form govt

George Iype in New Delhi

In an apparent bid to cash in on the stalemate created by the hardening postures of the Congress and the United Front leadership, the Bharatiya Janata Party has began negotiating with regional parties to form a new political front that could replace the embattled government of Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

The BJP has not yet worked out the exact dimensions of the proposed alliance. But party sources said BJP general secretaries Pramod Mahajan and M Venkaiah Naidu have already held a round of talks with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam leader Murasoli Maran.

The BJP's enthusiasm to rope in the regional parties has been bolstered by Tuesday's Delhi high court verdict quashing the Jain hawala case against party president Lal Kishinchand Advani.

Advani has invited important party functionaries to a dinner at his home on Tuesday night to finalise the BJP's strategy if Deve Gowda loses the crucial vote of confidence on April 11.

Party insiders revealed that the BJP's plans for an alliance with regional parties envisages a federal front minus the Hindutva plank. It also recommends the creation of a minimum programme acceptable to the regional parties.

The BJP, the single largest party in the Lok Sabha, remains stuck with 162 MPs. But with its allies -- the Akali Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party, the Haryana Vikas Party, the Samata Party, the Shiv Sena -- its tally goes up to 203. Thus, the BJP and its allies are short of 79 seats to reach the simple majority of 272 in the Lok Sabha.

The BJP plans to target the Asom Gana Parishad, the DMK and TDP which together have 39 seats in the Lok Sabha. This along with a few defections from the Janata Dal and the 9 independent MPs will enable the BJP to form a government at the Centre.

Despite the persuasive skills of both Mahajan and Naidu, both the DMK and TDP have not shown any interest in defecting from the UF coalition. The BJP leadership feels the regional parties will come to its fold once Deve Gowda fails to prove his majority in Parliament.

During the debate that will precede the UF's vote of confidence on Friday, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will argue that the BJP cannot be dubbed 'communal' as the BJP-ruled states have witnessed the least number communal riots in 1996.

Vajpayee will buttress his argument on a recent home ministry report which said as many as 40 communal riots took place in Congress-controlled Madhya Pradesh and 24 in Janata Dal-ruled Bihar.

In contrast, the BJP-ruled Delhi and Rajasthan witnessed one riot each while Maharashtra -- ruled by the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance -- saw seven communal disturbances.

If the talks between the Congress and United Front fail, there is a feeling that the prime minister may recommend the dissolution of the Lok Sabha before being voted out on Friday.

His precedent in this matter will be Charan Singh who resigned before the vote of confidence in July 1979. V P Singh too chose the floor of the Lok Sabha to demit office in November 1990.

But many believe President Shankar Dayal Sharma may make a final effort to avert a snap poll because of two reasons. Firstly, he will be inclined to give a chance either to the BJP or the Congress to prove its majority as more than four years of the eleventh Lok Sabha's tenure remains.

Secondly, if a mid-term poll is called, it would result in a Constitutional crisis as the Presidential elections are scheduled in June and there may not be an electoral college in place to elect Dr Sharma's successor.