Internal problems in the BJP are music to the ears of the Congress which sees no threat to the UPA coalition in the next three years despite scams and scandals.
“We will complete the term comfortably,” a prominent Congress leader said, while viewing a political realignment is not possible so long as the BJP leads the Opposition in Parliament.
The Leaders of the Opposition in the two Houses — Ms Sushma Swaraj and Mr Arun Jaitley — have not been able to use the Parliament forum effectively because they are seen as prime ministerial aspirants while the NDA leadership is unable to win over regional players outside the coalition, who are seen as potential threat to the Congress.
The BJP cannot be seen as an alternative to the Congress, not because it has no presence in over half-a-dozen states in south, east and other parts of the country which elects over 180 Lok Sabha members, but its ideology has not been appealing to the people in West Bengal (42 Lok Sabha seats), Tamil Nadu (39), Kerala (20) and Andhra Pradesh (42) and the uninspiring leadership, viewed Congress insiders.
Besides, it could not win a single Lok Sabha seat in Orissa (21), Haryana (10), Uttarakhand (5) and Delhi (7). The BJP has created political space in Bihar, Punjab and Jharkhand because of allies like the Janata Dal(U), Shiromani Akali Dal and the JMM. In Maharashtra, too, it could expand due to the Shiv Sena. But the BJP is not in a position to come to power on its own in these states.
The story of Karnataka is different in the sense that the BJP there is not as strong as it has been in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and, to some extent, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
In Karnataka, the saffron party could taste power probably for the first time when it had allied with the Janata Dal(S) after the latter broke the post-poll alliance with the Congress and thus moved to the BJP for power when the state Assembly polls threw a fractured mandate.
The Congress is not worried about the BJP not because the latter has a limited presence in few states but for its inability to bring anti-Congress regional leaders in the NDA before the general elections.