The BJP has taken the fight to streets in Karnataka against the Governor’s permission to prosecute chief minister Yediyurappa. It has also launched public agitation for hoisting tri colour flag in Lal Chowk in Srinagar. In Madhya Pradesh too it has launched agitations. Delhi has had rallies and demonstrations against price rise.

Why is the BJP belligerent and the Congress so offensive? The BJP is still smarting that people rejected it in 2009 polls. Significantly, since the beginning of the UPA 2, the BJP has been quite aggressive and raised several issues. They include corruption, price rise, hoisting tri-colour flag in Lal Chowk and JPC on 2 G, while the Congress has been on the back foot. So what better way than to attack the Congress? The BJP’s line of targeting Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was clearly spelt out at its national executive meeting held at Guwahati last month. With elections to five states in two months, the tempo is building up.

The Congress feels offence is better than defence. In its Burari AICC session last month, the AICC passed a hard-hitting resolution against BJP’s communalism, and what it called Hindu terrorism.

Look at the series of issues the BJP has focused in the past few months. The first was on the spiraling price rise and the BJP took the fight to the streets and organized bandhs. Food inflation has been added to the list of woes of the common man. The left and the right had come together both inside and outside Parliament on issues concerning the common man.

The second was on corruption, particularly the 2 G spectrum, CWG and Adarsh scams running into crores of rupees of losses to the exchequer. The opposition has tasted blood by ensuring the resignation of the Communication minister A. Raja, Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan and that of Kalmadi from the Congress Parliamentary party secretary post. However, the winter session transacted no business and the opposition is adamant on the JPC, for which the Congress is not ready.

The third was the black money and getting the list of names of account holders from Germany and Switzerland and tax havens. This issue was raised even before the 2009 polls and the BJP leader L.K. Advani promised to get the list within 100 days if his party was voted to power. With new developments on the black money it has become important. The sudden resurrection of the Bofors scam has emboldened the BJP to directly link Sonia Gandhi with the case.

Fourthly, the Supreme Court's permission to the Kerala government to proceed against the recently appointed Chief Vigilance Commissioner P.J. Thomas in the Palmoil scam has given a boost to the BJP campaign against corruption. Thomas was cleared by the Prime Minister against the caution advised by the BJP in the selection committee.

The response of the non – UPA, non -NDA parties is quite interesting. The left parties are fighting for their survival in West Bengal and Kerala, which are going to polls soon. They cannot be seen to be supporting the Congress. Therefore the BJP gets the tacit support of the left. Parties like the AIADMK, PMK, and MDMK in Tamil Nadu would like to dent the image of the Congress before the Assembly polls. The Telugu Desam, Biju Janata Dal and JD (U) are not friendly to Congress, the SP and the BSP are getting ready to fight the UP polls next year. So it is doubtful if the Congress could expect support from these quarters.

Despite all these why is the BJP unable to emerge as the winner? This has weakened the BJP’s fight against the Congress because it has no answer to the corruption charges against the Karnataka Chief minister Yediyurappa and his nepotism, The Governor's permission to prosecute the Chief minister recently has added fuel to the fire.

What is the Congress response to the BJP attacks? The Congress has used the big stick – the Hindu terror against the BJP and the RSS. It is banking on the alleged terror links connected with the RSS in a number of terror incidents, which may or may not click. The Congress Working committee even passed a resolution asking the UPA government to deal with the Hindu terror and containing the communalism.

Secondly, the Congress through the Karnataka Governor Bharadwaj and the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is turning the heat on the BJP. Thirdly, it has not yielded on the JPC demand, which will be the focus of the opposition in budget session.

The crux of the matter is that that it is the job of the government to rule the country as well run Parliament. The opposition has to play its watchdog role. In a democracy both have their roles cut out. When confrontation between the opposition and the government continues, what happens? There is a drift and governance deficit, which is glaring. Already there are reports that the foreign investors are worried about the governance deficit. If things continue like this, the 9.5 per cent growth will even be achieved. As President addressed in her Republic day speech, it is the responsibility of both the ruling combine and the opposition to run the Parliament. (IPA Service)