FE Editorial Loss-win situation

Font Size

Print

Feedback

Email

Discuss

Related Articles

Sonia praises nationalisationPutin calls Deora a ‘genius’ negotiatorN-deal not to solve energy problems readily: KalamN-deal not to solve energy problems readily: Kalam

: Sometime tomorrow we will know whether the UPA government survived the trust vote. If it doesn’t, some or many Congressmen may blame Manmohan Singh somewhat openly and Sonia Gandhi sotto voce. These critics won’t be mollified by the argument that the gamble of going ahead with nuclear deal negotiations and, therefore, engendering a trust vote was well worth it even if the government didn’t survive, because at stake was the Congress’s ability to make policy. Politics, not policy, and vote prospects, not Rahul Gandhi’s ‘if the government goes, so be it’ line are what will bother these unhappy Congressmen. They should know that even by cold political logic, where principles have very little place, a trust vote loss would be better than continuing with the arrangement the UPA was born under. First, as all MPs know, the opportunity cost for facing elections has gone down because scheduled polls are only a few months away. Second, going to the polls a few months later with the Left as a partner would have given the Congress no benefits—the Left and the Congress would have fought each other in Bengal and Kerala and the Left counts for zero everywhere else. Plus, Marxists, despite a full term alliance, would have still trashed the Congress as well as claimed credit for blocking an international agreement the Congress’s prime minister and party president wanted.