New Delhi: On Sunday, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) quit National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaving a coalition of forty years. Like Shiv Sena, earlier, SAD was also believed to a natural alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, one by one the parties seem to be leaving the coalition.
Despite this, the BJP remains unfazed.
Unlike earlier, when someone from the BJP would try and persuade these leaving parties to stay, this time nothing of that sort was witnessed. On the flip side, when SAD minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned, the letter was immediately forwarded to the President for approval.
In January 2018, when Shiv Sena cut ties with the NDA, it alleged that neither did BJP give them enough respect, nor their ministers were allowed to work independently in their respective ministries.
It also said that the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) was excessively intervening in all the matters.
Also read: Confusion prevails over seat sharing in Bihar election
Sena minister Arvind Sawant said that he was not allowed to take even one decision without the BJP's approval.
In the present scenario, it can be seen that the NDA is slowly converting into something it alleged the Congress government of doing with former PM Manmohan Singh - controlling everything excessively.
Looking at the Farm Bills, the BJP before presenting it in the Parliament did not even try to discuss it with the coalition parties. BJP did not try to learn and sort out with the coalition parties if they objected to anyting, or any solution can be found for the problems.
Perhaps the BJP did not expect an uproar of this magnitude over the Farm Bills that it so hurriedly passed through the houses and then in the Parliament.
With SAD leaving the coalition, Shiv Sena immediately attacked the BJP, terming it unbridled in their mouthpiece 'Saamna'.
Sena also questioned the existence of the remaining parties in the NDA and asked, "What is even left of NDA?"
It said the remaining parties in NDA do not share the right-wing nationalism that BJP supports and also appreciated SAD of leaving the coalition in farmers' interests.
However, seeing the current situation in Bihar, the Janata Dal (United) (JDU) may now try and squeeze a good deal with the BJP, with politically cunning Nitish Kumar also trying to strike a hard bargain over seat-sharing.
At the same time, Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) will also try and get more seats in the upcoming state assembly elections.
Although the BJP has 303 seats in the Lok Sabha and there is no threat to the government, but if these allied parties start supporting the opposition, then in the Parliament, especially in Rajya Sabha, where BJP is the largest party, it may get difficult for them pass any bill since they do not have a clear majority.
Also read: Why did Akali Dal snap ties with BJP?
The break-up of the Akali Dal from the NDA is a big challenge for the current national president, but surprisingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains neutral despite all these incidents.
When ETV Bharat spoke to Arvind Sawant, in a sharp attack he said that NDA is no more a collection of right-wing parties. He added that while leaving the coalition, Sena had already predicted that due to BJP's aggressive stance, slowly but surely other parties would quit NDA and that's what is happening.
On the flip side, when we spoke to BJP ministers they started explaining how the farm bills is for the betterment of the farmers.
When asked about the coalition, MP Manoj Tiwari started talking about the farm bills and said it is the Congress that's spreading rumours about the bill whereas, in reality, the bill will empower the farmers, will give them an open market, reduce corruption.
Amid so much happening, the question now arises is, why did BJP not stop old allies from leaving? Why did they [SAD and Shiv Sena] leave? Was it due to friction in ideologies or was it mismanagement?
Why did the PM not order any BJP minister to persuade SAD to rejoin?
In Bihar too, amid the political drama between LJP and JD(U), the BJP has not done anything to improve the situation, neither is likely to do anything.
The foundations laid by the Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani for the NDA which was crucial in making BJP a central power now seems to weaken with parties leaving one by one.
Also read: BJP persuaded Akalis to split, says Congress chief in Punjab
It is speculated that when in-fighting happened in Akali Dal after which Navjot Singh Siddhu joined Congress, the BJP had given importance to Akali Dal. Even when Siddhu wanted to contest in Punjab elections alone, BJP took Dal's side.
However, Akali Dal lost miserably. It is from then, the BJP wanted to get rid of SAD but was not able to do so, however, with Badal resigning herself over farm bills, the opportunity presented itself for BJP to get rid of the dead weight.
