‘Hand’ fails to prevent ‘cycle’ from crashing

The much-hyped alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh was called a “game changer”.

Political analysts had thought the alliance would have helped the former retain power and the latter regain lost ground in the crucial state.

But it seems the alliance partners, especially the Congress, caused more harm rather than acting as a force multiplier.

Cracks appeared in the coalition even before the tieup was formally announced with the Congress insisting on at least 120 seats, despite having no formidable presence at the grassroots level in terms network and a strong cadre.

After much bickering a deal was finally sealed for 105 seats for the Congress.

Election results have confirmed what was being suspected all along — the Congress was becoming a huge liability for the SP. Giving over 100 seats to it made the situation even worse. There were innumerable leaks from Congress circles on whether Priyanka Gandhi will take part in campaigning, and these reports occupied more public space rather than of putting up a cohesive front.

Then the friendly fight on four seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli left the coalition partners suspicious of each other.

In fact, SP cadre accused the Congress of bringing nothing to the table. They felt that the attack on their government by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi before the alliance was sealed was difficult to explain to voters.

Prior to the alliance, Rahul Gandhi had taken a monthlong kisan yatra across Uttar Pradesh. The Congress had also coined the slogan “27 saal UP behaal”.