Lest the Congress’ deluge casts doubt about its stability, KCR is down to spadework for regional front

If there was any theory that the Congress would be the pivot of a broad anti-BJP front, given its 3-0 scoreline in the Assembly elections — and some signs of its old-time arrogance returning with loyalist allies rooting for its chief Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister — then federal front architects TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee have more than offset the speculation. Rao, who claimed a decisive verdict in Telangana despite estimates that the Congress, in alliance with Chandrababu Naidu, would dent his command has obviously been posited by federal front leaders now as the loaded dice which could be the right counterpoint to Congress’ ambitions of transforming the dynamics of any bipartisan narrative that is to unfold before 2019. Also, Upendra Kushwaha deserted the BJP to join the Congress ranks, while the BJP swiftly worked on a seat sharing formula with JD(U) and the LJP in Bihar. The federal front has realised that it has no time to lose to get more allies to its flock, before or after the poll. So, KCR has himself taken the initiative of coalescing non-Congress allies with a glue that lasts till May 2019. He is taking care of like-minded leaders who are not willing to play courtiers to the Congress and is calling on TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, Biju Janata Dal’s Naveen Patnaik, Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Mayawati. The Uttar Pradesh parties are none too happy with the Congress, the SP is upset by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s take on migrant labour from the heartland and Mayawati is not willing to negotiate on seat sharing though she did extend post-poll support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh parties do not want to dilute their hold at the State level as they are in the drivers’ seat. KCR is rallying these voices around to drive a hard bargain with the Congress for primacy in an anti-BJP front. Of course, he is having a separate meeting with Banerjee who authored the front idea in the first place. The Mamata-KCR dynamic becomes significant because the larger question is to what extent both can accommodate each other’s ambitions. Didi felt slighted when despite going quite the mile with KCR, the wily leader had left the door ajar for possible negotiations with the BJP and negotiate a largesse for his newly-formed State from the Centre. When he forwarded a poll in his State, many had thought that he was positing himself independently vis-a-vis the BJP. Hence, the “jet diplomacy” now to assuage such fears of him being a sellout. At the same time, KCR knows that if there is anybody who can ultimately strike a balance between the allies and Congress in the larger picture, it is Banerjee. Not for nothing is KCR headed to Kalighat. It's not divine blessings but acknowledging Banerjee’s relevance in constructing a workable anti-BJP structure that egos will have to be subsumed.

In the end, it is this factor which bothers voters about the viability of the federal front as an electoral option. Who would claim its leadership if not Rahul Gandhi who has led the party in three States and has the legacy of the grand old party in his pocket? Would any of the federal front leaders agree to cede ground to a first among equals and rise above their territorial concerns? Utopia or dystopia?