Disquiet in the NDA

BJP president Amit Shah’s maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha on Monday will be remembered less for the tactical point, but scoring more for marking an inflexion point in his party’s relationship with its allies. Amit Shah may have miscalculated by letting slip the superciliousness and disdain the BJP’s top leadership entertains for its allies. As it is the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the PDP, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the other supporting parties have been cut out from powerful portfolios and their state-specific demands given a cold shoulder, causing a loss of face in their pocket boroughs. 

The Telugu Desam Party was already in a defiant mode, its party high command having met a day earlier to consider the option to part ways. Amit Shah’s broadside only strengthened the resolve of the Shiv Sena to become even more difficult while the SAD decided to cast off its wariness in going public with its unease. The SAD’s sympathy for the TDP is understandable: the BJP was the junior partner with both parties; yet far from being accommodative, Amit Shah has revealed that the BJP never felt adequately obliged to part with any meaningful political concessions. 

The BJP’s recent alliance-free victories in states may have given Amit Shah a sense of indomitableness. But as Narendra Modi’s appeal as the star vote catcher diminishes, the BJP will need to summon more enthusiasm from its allies. It is not only about Punjab, Maharashtra or Andhra Pradesh. The helping hand by the allies in UP, Jharkhand and Bihar was a significant catalyst in the NDA’s north India sweep. The murmurs of rebellion within the NDA need not mean an automatic accretion in the UPA’s strength; the BJP has sensed the potentiality of damage and offered to negotiate. The NDA’s line up in 2019 may remain unchanged, but the spirit de corps of 2014 will be missing. That will make a crucial difference in the BJP’s quest to cross the half-way mark again.