Take the case of the Congress, which had committed itself to playing the role of a constructive opposition. After showing restraint for a few months, the party seems to have backtracked on its own professed stand and is bent upon grabbing power by hook or by crook. It does not matter to the Congress that any government it forms or helps to form will be as unstable as the one that would be replaced. For the Left Front, it makes no difference at all whether the BJP or the Congress is in power for it is opposed to the economic policies of both. Besides, any understanding the Left forges with the Congress to form an alternative government will confuse its own cadres in those states where it is strong and where its traditional rival has always been the Congress. Thus replacing the BJP'sTweedledum with the Congress' Tweedledee can be of little political advantage to the Left parties. Similarly, the political parties that once constituted the Third Front would still be nursing the wounds the Congress inflicted when it withdrew support from its government one and a half years ago, precipitating an early poll in the process. If anything, this shows there is little in common among these various parties apart from their hatred for the BJP.Given the present composition of the Lok Sabha, stability will remain a far cry whatever the permutations and combinations the BJP and the Congress may work out. There is also no guarantee that an election will end in a decisive victory for either of the parties. The reluctance of almost all parties to face an immediate election is, in fact, a tacit recognition of this political reality. Thus it was incumbent upon the parties concerned to work towards a stable government from within the present House. This was a duty the voters had entrusted them with. Toportray the AIADMK-BJP standoff as an outcome of the inherent contradictions in the BJP coalition is to deny the attempts the Congress has been making to tempt Jayalalitha to walk out of the Vajpayee-led coalition. Implicit in all this is the utterly irresponsible behaviour of parties across the spectrum. They have together betrayed the voters' trust.