ALLIANCES , CROSS -ALLIANCES OR JUGAAD ?

The alliance era has sprung some very interesting scenarios.Those who had hoped that the two blocks of alliances would stabilise - as a prelude to the two party system- are most likely to be dissapointed with the three emerging amorphous blocks of alliances . This is a healthy sign for Indian Democracy as the two other alliances were much of the same thing ( Including many common players ) - in that they had practically the same approach to all major issues.However , there is still a long way to go before it can be called a robust state. It has to do with two factors - nature of alliances and the timing of their formation. In both the alliances, barring the core parties ( Cong and BJP ) and the anathemas (viz. SP& BSP; AIDMK & DMK) all the other players are floaters. Besides , they are both post poll creations whereby seat arithematic is the glue - irrespectie of the idelogical differences . In a sense , it is like all other Indian things - reactive ; whereas had they been pre- poll , the basis would 've been ideology or common agenda.In that case,the alliance would 've been active,even pro-active. The fact of the matter is that if the alliance /coming together is pre-poll , it helps to achieve certain goals( as in the case of Janata party in 1977 ) whereas if it is post poll -on the basis of seat tally , it helps to survive on the basis of proven ground strength. However, the negative fallout is that the growth is at best incremental , by entities such as common minimum programme. Ideally, there should be both a pre-poll as well as post poll alliance- the former should be based on a common agenda- only the relative emphasis should be finetuned post poll on the basis of seats won. In any scenario such as the current one where the alliances are among too unequal partners - it 'll lead to aberrations wherein the regional satraps start harbouring national ambitions and the situation will invariably remain fluid.The way outwill once again be typically Indian -Jugaad.However, the only point to be noted is that Jugaad can at best produce a functional entity, never a superior one.