Meghnad Desai / IE
Despite much ballyhoo, the outcome of the Bihar election is unlikely to change Indian politics much either way. If the NDA coalition wins, the Rajya Sabha arithmetic will still be unfavourable for the government. It will have to learn how to build a consensus in Parliament if it wants its business done. Majority in the Lok Sabha is neither necessary nor sufficient to govern India. What any government has to do is to build a coalition around a programme everyone can agree on.
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If the RJD/JD(U) coalition wins, it would still not provide a viable national opposition to the BJP. The vacuum left by the shrinkage of the Congress in the Lok Sabha remains. As the junior partner, the Congress’s problem is the Lok Sabha even if it manages to break the duck in Bihar. It has to get out of the hurt feeling at having been rejected by the electorate and find a way of behaving like an opposition, not just for this but several more Parliaments. Rahul will have to rebuild the party, which has collapsed all across India. Stalking Modi is not enough. more
Despite much ballyhoo, the outcome of the Bihar election is unlikely to change Indian politics much either way. If the NDA coalition wins, the Rajya Sabha arithmetic will still be unfavourable for the government. It will have to learn how to build a consensus in Parliament if it wants its business done. Majority in the Lok Sabha is neither necessary nor sufficient to govern India. What any government has to do is to build a coalition around a programme everyone can agree on.
--- ---- ---
If the RJD/JD(U) coalition wins, it would still not provide a viable national opposition to the BJP. The vacuum left by the shrinkage of the Congress in the Lok Sabha remains. As the junior partner, the Congress’s problem is the Lok Sabha even if it manages to break the duck in Bihar. It has to get out of the hurt feeling at having been rejected by the electorate and find a way of behaving like an opposition, not just for this but several more Parliaments. Rahul will have to rebuild the party, which has collapsed all across India. Stalking Modi is not enough. more
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