Such was Kamaraj’s grip over his home state that he took on the combined might of Nehru and Gandhi and ensured that their nominee, C. Rajagopalachari did not become the chief minister of the Madras Presidency in 1945.When Nehru manoeuvred to push Rajaji into CM’s chair through the governor after 1952 elections, Kamaraj ousted him two years later and occupied the post himself. He remained CM of Tamil Nadu for nine years and Nehru wisely refrained from attempting to destabilize him.

In those days all the states were ruled by the Congress and the chief ministers had sound base and drew their strength from the people. Even in Nehru’s time—in late fifties and early sixties-- dissidence started growing in the states and authority of some of the chief ministers was challenged. Sixties saw worst type of dissidence and defection by Congress MLAs, toppling their own governments. This phenomenon was described by Y B Chavan as “Aya Ram, Gaya Ram” , meaning “today in this party and tomorrow in another”. The politics of “aya ram, gaya ram” weakened the Congress in states.

The 1962 general election saw, for the first time, decline in the Congress ruled states in the Lok Sabha polls and assembly elections. At that time, Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were not delinked and were simultaneously held. Not only the Congress party’s strength in the Lok Sabha significantly went down but in the states too the dissidence came to the fore in an ugly way. The year 1967 was worst in most of the northern states; Samyukta Vidhayam Dal (SVD) government were formed and the Congress was ousted. They were non-Congress governments, composed of opposition parties, mainly the BJP, the breakaway faction of the Congress, the Praja Socialist Party and the Socialist party.

In Madhya Pradesh the dissidence was seen in its worst form that ousted the strongman D P Mishra. His autocratic behaviour had antagonised a chunk of MLAs, including Govind Narayan Singh, a Minister in Mishra’s cabinet. Singh was intelligent and powerful leader, with distinguished academic record. He was a topper of the Banaras Hindu University, a gold medalist and a student of Dr. Radhakrishnan. He was selected for IAS but quit the coveted service to jump in the uncertain world of politics,

He was responsible for making Mishra the chief minister and also instrumental in toppling him. After becoming CM, Mishra started denigrating Singh, who was a man of self respect. He took a vow to oust Mishra, joined hands with Rajamata Vijaya Raje Scindia of the BJP, who too was victim of Mishra highhandedness. They pulled the rug from under the feet of Mishra, and, for the first time, a non-Congress government was formed in Madhya Pradesh.

It was when power locale shifted to Delhi under Indira Gandhi’s central leadership that politics stopped throwing up regional chieftains. Indira Gandhi ensured that no state Congress leader grew bigger than her. If anyone dared to challenge her, she moved quickly to cut him to size. Chimanbhai Patel, leader of the powerful Patel community in Gujarat, was one such victim. Although he succeeded in compelling Mrs. Gandhi to appoint him the CM in 1973 by threatening to pull down the Congress government in the state, she retaliated within a year. Her loyalists stocked the flames of the violent Navnirman movement that engulfed Gujarat in 1974 and Patel found himself embroiled in a series of corruption charges levelled by his own party colleagues. He was forced to resign.

In the process, growth of powerful regional leaders was stifled; she developed herself as a mass politician who reached out directly to the voters without going through state bosses. In the long run results were disastrous; today there are no leaders of the stature of Pant, Roy or Kamaraj in the Congress. As a matter of fact, Congress is finding hard to locate state-level leaders who can sway the masses and lead the party. In key states like U.P, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, there are no powerful leaders to steer the party.

In absence of regional Congress leaders of suspense, the void was filled by regional leaders. The BJP too consolidated and state bosses grew within the party. Unlike Congress, the BJP’s leadership remained weak. The state chieftains defied the central leadership as was seen in the case of Yeddyurappa in Karnataka. Most glaring is the example of Narendra Modi. Even a leader of the stature of Atal Behari Vajpayee had to back off when he tried to sack Modi from the post of chief minister shortly after communal violence in Gujarat in 2002.Although Gujarat CM continues to be dogged by controversy and more recently in a Supreme Court-monitored SIT probe into the role of the Modi government in the post Godhra episode, the BJP is reluctant to take action against him.

Mamata Banerjee and Sharad Pawar are two examples of breakaway Congressmen who are no less of a headache for their erstwhile party as Yeddyurappa and Modi are for the BJP. Mamata has emerged as the undisputed leader of West Bengal and the Congress was forced to accept the status of junior partner to the Trinamool Congress in the recent assembly elections. Her stunning victory in the polls has only increased her clout and the Congress is feeling the heat.

Accommodating Pawar must have been a difficult task for Sonia Gandhi. In 1999, he hit out at her by making an issue of her foreign origin; he was expelled from the Congress. Yet a few months later, the Congress was forced to join hands with the NCP to form a coalition government in Maharashtra when the elections threw up a hung assembly.

In Tamil Nadu powerful leaders like Karunanidhi of the DMK and Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK, preceded by matinee idol M G Ramachandran, came to the fore. The Congress became leaderless and ceased to be a force which the party was during Kamaraj’s time. In rudderless and leaderless U.P, the Congress is trying to revive the party and striving hard to build a state-level leadership in the run up to the assembly elections due next year. Rahul Gandhi himself and Digvijay Singh have taken upon this task. At the moment, however, two regional leaders—Chief Minister Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav—call the shot. The BJP is a poor third.

Bihar saw Nitish Kumar come up as a force though in alliance with the BJP he formed a coalition government. According to latest reports he is likely to have his own majority soon.

As one looks at national political scenario, both the national parties--- the Congress and the BJP—appear to be on back foot and regional parties and their satraps have been growing fast. (IPA Service)