Cong in search of new partners

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Minister of state for corporate affairs (independent charge) Sachin Pilot addresses a kisan sammelan at Bayana

The Congress is in search of new friends and allies. This became clear with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement that “in politics, there are no permanent allies and no permanent enemies.”
Dr Singh made the Congress position clear ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, suggesting that the Congress is open to ally with regional parties to isolate the BJP in the coming electoral battle.
He put the record straight on the issue of alliances during his interaction with reporters on his way back from the five-day visit to Japan and Thailand on Friday.
This means the Congress does not consider the Left and the Trinamul Congress, the DMK and the AIADMK, Janata Dal (U) and the RJD, the TRS and YSR Congress “politically untouchable” in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress has been sharing power with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP in Maharashtra since 1999, but in Uttar Pradesh, the major parties — Samajwadi Party and the BSP — are not keen to have pre poll alliance with the Sonia Gandhi-led party. This is because the latter’s political constituency has been eroded in the last two decades. The Congress cannot ally with the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Biju Janata Dal, the TDP, the AGP, the INLD in Punjab, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Haryana respectively because they have been its main political rivals in these states.
In the UPA-1, the Left block had withdrawn its support on the nuclear deal issue in 2008. Before that, the TRS came out on the issue of a separate Telangana state. But in UPA-2, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress and the DMK quit the government and the UPA on certain issues.
The Shiv Sena had backed the Congress nominee in the last two Presidential elections. Asked whether government was planning to reach out to the Left or Trinamul Congress in UPA-III, Dr Singh said, “Well, in politics, there are no permanent allies and no permanent enemies. These possibilities, some people coming in, some people going out, they have to be accepted as they are”.