The latest example of the BJP practicing the art is provided by the last week's visit to Punjab by its state in charge Yashwant Sinha. He met the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for sorting out the latest differences between the ruling allies arising out of the state BJP's complaint that the government was diverting all developmental funds to the constituencies held by Akalis while ignoring the ones with the BJP. Even the party's senior most Industries and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalis publicly accused the Akalis of discriminating against the urban-based BJP's vote bank in the matter of granting funds. The BJP state unit accused the Akali Dal of “betrayal of trust” and not performing coalition dharma. Some in the party even pleaded reconsideration of its relations with the Akali Dal.

After his dinner meeting with Badal, Yashwant Sinha claimed that “the issue of releasing adequate funds for development of urban constituencies with BJP political interest has been resolved to the satisfaction of the BJP. The CM has assured release of Rs.800 crore over two years but that the grant would be part of a development package for the state being prepared by the government.”

There are political and economic reasons behind the growing wedge between the alliance partners. To begin with the cause was their attempts to expand their respective bases to each other's areas of influence. The urban-based BJP started attempts to spread its wings to the Akalis main rural support base while the rural-based Akali Dal tried to expand its influence in the BJP's urban support base. A few years back, the BJP at its national meet had asked the party units to go to the villages. Accordingly the BJP-sponsored Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (RSS) started attempts to penetrate among the Sikhs by using the Sikh religion plank. This evoked strong protests from the Sikh clergy which even gave a call to the Sikhs to boycott the RSS. The RSS indulgence in the Sikh religious affairs and the Sikh clergy's confrontationist attitude on the issue, at one stage, threatened to disturb Punjab's communal harmony.

The Akali Dal's attempts to expand its base in the urban areas raised fears among BJP leaders that their success would diminish the urban-based party's bargaining power vis-à-vis Akalis. Due to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal's gentle behavior and liberal ways some sections of Hindus were often gravitated towards the Akali Dal. But these periods of bonhomie were usually short. The sections of Hindus whose support Badal later lost rarely went back to BJP. Many of them would switch their loyalties back to the Congress.

The style of functioning of Badal's son Sukhbir Singh often tended to widen the area of tensions between the alliance partners. The BJP leadership felt that instead of treating the party as an equal partner, the Akali Dal never left an opportunity to undermine the BJP. “This happened in the Corporation elections, panchayat elections and block samitis elections” where both parties were seen contesting each other rather than in an alliance. During the local bodies elections, actions of Akali-backed armed goons at some places in Malwa region even led to confrontations between the Akali Dal and the BJP supporters.

At political level, the BJP has been complaining that it was being ignored in decision-making processes and not given due share in government bodies. After its pressure the government set up several Boards to which BJP nominees were appointed. It is another matter that these boards supposed to help the trade and industry have been non-functional.

More than political it is the economic issues that have strained the ruling partners relations. Because of the state's acute financial crisis -its debt has mounted to Rs.71,000 crore- the government required mobilization of huge resources. The ruling allies did not want to put additional burden on their respective rural and urban bases. When the government mustard courage to mobilize additional resources, these were biased more against the urban areas. This trend was visible in the latest tussle of diversion of funds mobilized from urban areas being diverted to the rural areas, the factor behind the latest Akali-BJP confrontation to sort out which Yashwant Sinha rushed to Chandigarh last week.

The discriminating imposition of new tax burdens on the urban population has also been evoking strong protests from the trade and industry in Punjab. This has dented the BJP's urban base as also the government's image.

Despite the disenchantment of vast sections of the people with the Akali-BJP rule the realities of power politics rule out the possibility of the ruling allies parting company. The reason is simple. Because of their single community bases, neither the Akali Dal nor the BJP can come to power in Punjab on their own. It is only through an alliance that they can capture power. But their bickering coupled with the peoples growing disenchantment with the government's functioning will create a situation favourable for the Congress in the next elections. But the Congress's own house is in disarray with its top leaders involved in factional fights.

Two factors will play a crucial role in the peoples' electoral preferences in the 2012 elections. One is the government's performance during the run-up to the elections. Other is Congress's ability to close its ranks and come out of its hibernation.(IPA Service)