It’s advantage Congress. The Assembly election results have come as a breather for the party, now riddled with scams and charges of corruption. Its electoral triumph in Assam and Kerala will give it a major political boost. The party has also heaved a sigh of relief with the DMK, its powerful southern ally, biting the dust in Tamil Nadu.
A Congress functionary noted that the DMK’s ruling clan, now facing corruption charges, was waiting for the poll results to “initiate its politics of blackmail”. Former DMK communications minister A. Raja is behind bars, and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi faces charges over the multi-crore 2G spectrum scam. A fuming DMK, with its 18 Lok Sabha MPs, would have tried to armtwist the Congress if it returned to power in Tamil Nadu.
With a reshuffle of the Union council of ministers expected soon, the DMK might again have pressed for the coveted communications portfolio. Following its rout in Tamil Nadu, the DMK is desperately in need of powerful friends and in no position to make demands. It will now be forced to toe the UPA government’s line, and is in fact itself vulnerable to pressure.
The victories in Assam and Kerala will energise the party, now preparing for the looming electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh in 2012. The Trinamul Congress’ triumph in West Bengal will only “add to our advantage”, a senior Congress leader said. The party won 17 seats in the 2006 West Bengal Assembly polls; this time the figure has jumped to 42 seats. The party can now weigh the option of extending outside support to the Trinamul Congress, which has secured a majority on its own with nearly 184 seats, if it chooses not to join Ms Banerjee’s government.
Ms Banerjee, who secured overwhelming support from Muslims, who constitute 27 per cent of the state’s voters, will now find it extremely difficult to contemplate a return to the BJP-led NDA in future. Thus Ms Banerjee’s politics of switching coalition allies at her convenience could now come to an end for a while. A senior party leader predicted that if Ms Banerjee performed well as an administrator and the alliance remained in place, her Lok Sabha tally — now 19 — could increase considerably in the 2014 general election. Ms Banerjee could then become a bigger and more powerful ally of the Congress at the Centre.
The Left’s decimation at the national level will help the Congress as it would be difficult for the Marxists and other Left parties to find any takers for their repeated attempts to forge an alternate “third front”.