Congress plagued by desertions of allies ahead of LS polls

As the Lok Sabha polls draw closer, the Congress-led UPA appears to be facing the same problem of desertions by allies that was encountered by the BJP-led NDA in 2004.

The 'index of UPA unity' has sharply tumbled with the PMK dumping it and the RJD and LJP forming a secular alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha polls in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

The PMK is the latest constituent to exit from the Congress-led alliance at the Centre which has seen desertions earlier by the MDMK, TRS and PDP.

In 2004, NDA had seen half a dozen of its allies bidding it adieu on the eve of elections.

At the same time in the run up to the last elections, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had gone the extra mile to bring secular forces on one platform.

She had literally walked to her next door neighbour in Delhi and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan, approached NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, who had parted ways with her party on the foreign origin issue, extended the olive branch to DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and others, initiating the coalition mantra.

The first to quit the NDA camp was LJP which broke away soon after the Godhra incident and its aftermath in 2002.