By Sudha Pai Congress’ narrow wins in the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Assembly elections have once again brought to the fore the importance of building alliances between opposition parties prior to the 2019 elections.
Apart from Chhattisgarh, no decisive victory has emerged elsewhere. In Madhya Pradesh, Congress doubled its seats, but its vote share of 41% remained a shade lower than BJP; in Rajasthan, the difference was little more than 1%.
The need for building alliances is particularly important in the Hindi heartland as it has large number of parliamentary seats and is the battleground for national contenders. Also, BJP has a strong base and electoral machinery.
Here, the role of Mayawati and the Dalit constituency assume importance, especially in Uttar Pradesh. The question of whether to form alliances with the Congress is an old and uneasy dilemma for the BSP. On the one hand, the breakdown of single-party dominance c ..
Source: – TheEconomicsTimes