Suggesting that alliances have to be nursed in between elections, former Union Minister P Chidambaram Thursday said that he was “not sure” if the INDIA bloc “is still intact”.
Speaking at the launch of a book, Contesting Democratic Deficit, at the India International Centre in , former Home Minister said: “The future is not so bright as Mr Mritunjay Singh Yadav (co-author of the book) says. He seems to feel that the INDIA alliance is still intact. I am not sure. Maybe Salman (Khurshid) can answer because he was part of the negotiating team of the INDIA alliance. If the INDIA alliance is totally intact, I am very very happy, but it shows… seems it is frail. It can be put together. There is still time. There are still events which will unfold.”
The book is co-authored by former Union Minister Salman Khurshid with Mritunjay Singh Yadav.
“I have a very different view of alliances. I have had long experiences of alliance in … Alliance can’t be stitched at the time of elections. Alliances have to be nursed for five years. Only two states in which the alliance has worked consistently. They may have lost an election or won. The alliances that have been nursed through defeat and victory are in Kerala and Tamil Nadu,” said the Congress leader.
On , he said: “If you want to take on the formidable BJP machinery, in my experience, in my reading of history, there has been no political party which is so formidably organised as the BJP. In every department it is formidable. It’s not another political party.”
“It is a machine behind which is a machine, and the two machines control all machinery in India. From EC to the lowest police station in India, they are able to control and sometimes capture these institutions. It is a formidable machinery as much as can be allowed in a democracy and comparable to a one state party where the ruling party is a formidable machinery. I am not saying we are a one state party…” he said.
Khurshid said: “The issue about the alliance (INDIA bloc) had a lot to do with all parties… There are instances in the book where we talk about our sensitivities being given a go by. If you want to have an alliance with a party you can’t kick it around, squeeze them… Then talk about alliances.”
