Search For A Third Alternative

Padmanand Jha May 08, 1996 00:00 IST Search For A Third Alternative -0001-11-30T00:00:00+05:53

IT is not only the opinion polls which have leaders of the non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) political formulations worried. Their own feedback also confirms that the saffron juggernaut has moved much too far to be arrested, and there is little they can do to stop the BJP and its allies—the Shiv Sena, Samata Party and the Haryana Vikas Party—from emerging as the single largest block in the 11th Lok Sabha. The saving grace is the expectation that despite its splendid showing, the BJP-led alliance will get nowhere near the halfway mark of 272 seats.

And while there is a sense of alarm at the rise of the BJP among the left-of-centre members of the National Front-Left Front combine, anger is building within the Congress against its president, P.V. Narasimha Rao, for having allowed such a scenario to take shape. Leaders like K. Karunakaran and Rajesh Pilot, who are still in the party, and those of the ilk of Arjun Singh, N.D. Tiwari, Madhavrao Scindia and G.K. Moopanar, who have left the party but still consider themselves "true Congressmen", have started an informal...