As the campaign for the Assembly elections enters the final lap, the electoral debut and performance of minor parties and splinter groups which have managed to keep themselves afloat by allying with the prominent fronts, mainly the National Democratic Alliance, has evoked much curiosity among the public.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA, which claims to have taken on itself the challenge to herald sweeping changes in the State’s political milieu by emerging as a third alternative, has virtually become a motley combination of 11 parties.
Litmus test
Except for the BJP, the election would be a litmus test for the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, its principal ally. Most of the NDA allies such as the Janadhipathya Rashtriya Sabha led by C.K. Janu, Janadhipatya Samrakshana Samity (Rajan Babu faction), Secular National Dravida Party of S. Suvarna Kumar, Kerala Vikas Congress and Lok Samata Party are yet to register their presence in the State and prove their clout among the sections which they claim to represent, mainly the tribes and the backward sections. Whether the alliance would help the BJP to get rid of its perceived upper caste tag and gain acceptability among such sections remains to be seen.
The NDA, like the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), has accommodated two splinter groups of the Kerala Congress led by P.C. Thomas and Kerala Congress (Nationalist). Though the Nair Service Society had resolved to freeze the National Democratic Party formed under its tutelage, the NDA has a faction of the NDP (Secular)owing allegiance to it. In addition to such minor groups, the State-level arms of other parties such as Lok Janasakthi Party, an NDA ally, and also the AIADMK are vying to secure a share from the votes and consolidate their position.
Being the home ground of front politics, the State had always provided a conducive milieu for the growth and survival of such parties, which manage to drift from one side to another to maintain their relevance. Though the BJP had claimed to explore a new course by deviating from the much-trodden path of the two fronts, the party too seems to be buckling under the pressure to pander to its allies. But the BJP leadership brushes aside such arguments and says that all their allies enjoy considerable clout among the sections they represent.
According to BJP spokesperson J.R. Padma Kumar, a majority of the LDF and UDF allies have only leaders and no significant following. But NDA partners have leaders who could act as opinion leaders among their community members and that would have an incremental effect on the vote share of the party. The performance of the NDA government at the Centre and the new alliance would break the jinx of the party being confined to certain sections, he says.
Litmus test for Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, BJP’s principal ally
Most of the NDA allies yet to register their presence in the State
