Why BJP has become a magnet for smaller parties

With its past, present & future looking bright, newer alliance members may continue to flock to NDA

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become a magnet for smaller parties since 2014. As is evident from the results, these smaller players have quite literally thrust the BJP in a position to form governments comfortably in Manipur and with a little help from independents in Goa.

In the 2014 general elections, the NDA included 24 other parties in addition to the BJP. In these elections, the BJP has managed to attract more parties in pre-poll and post-alliances in UP, Manipur and Goa.

In UP, the BJP’s smaller partners that won seats include Apna Dal (Soneylal) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). Apna Dal which is represented by Anupriya Patel in the Modi cabinet won nine seats, two more than the Congress. SBSP, an Eastern UP based OBC outfit demanding SC status too delivered four seats to the NDA tally.  A party similar to SBSP called Nirmal Indian Shishit Hamara Dal (NISHAD) which fought with the Muslim outfit Peace Party, consisting of members of the same boatman community tried to wean away the non-Yadav OBC vote from the BJP but could manage to win just one seat. In the run-up to the polls, the BJP had also welcomed other smaller parties into its fold by giving contestants tickets under its party symbol. For instance, Rashtriya Mahan Gantantra Party leader Kanhaiya Lal Nishad was given a BJP ticket from Autraliya which he lost to the Samajwadi Party (SP). Similarly, the BJP had wooed Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP’s) rebel Shyam Prasad Maurya by giving him a ticket from Padrauna, which Maurya delivered to the BJP.

In all the BJP gained one additional winning alliance member in the form of SBSP in the 2017 UP assembly elections. While two others fought under the BJP’s symbol. These new members added five seats to the NDA tally. The BJP doesn’t need these smaller parties given its own superior strength in UP, but Modi has in the past asserted that all parties play a crucial role in the NDA alliance across India.

In Goa too, it has added the Goa Forward Party(GFP) to its list of allies. The GFP contested four seats winning three of them. In addition, there is an old NDA ally the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party which has also won three seats. Though a traditional BJP partner over the years, the party has been a divided lot after its winning candidates decided to put their weight behind the BJP in helping it form the government in Goa. With three seats apiece and with Manohar Parrikar assuring of backing of three independents, the NDA alliance is a party richer in Goa as compared to 2014. Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) that has been part of the UPA has also increased its interactions with the BJP off late.

In Manipur too, the BJP has managed to get close to forming a government despite winning less seats than the Congress. That’s because three of its old time allies have won crucial seats. All three of them Naga People’s Front, Conrad Sangma’s National People’s Party and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Jana Shakti Party were part of the NDA in 2014. All three among them have won 9 seats this time around which takes the BJP’s tally in the state to 30 seats, one short of being qualified to form the next government in Manipur.

Even as the BJP gains newer allies and old ones continue to perform well, the UPA alliance is soon losing steam. Congress has been reduced to a junior member of the alliance in UP, as has been admitted by many senior leaders after their comprehensive drubbing in the state. In Goa, the GFP was expected to support the Congress after the elections but has now veered towards the BJP. The attraction of the BJP for smaller parties’ rests on the fact that it is at power at the centre. Any alliance with the party in power at the centre translates into more stability and authority for those in the state. In an interview to a news website GFP’s leader had said that one of the reasons for GFP’s winning candidates to support BJP was that it was at power in the centre. GFP’s president Prabhakar Timble has resigned after hearing that his winning party members had decided to ditch the Congress and back the BJP.

The lure of the BJP also rests on the fact that the party not just wins elections, but association with the party boosts the allies’ chances in polls. This is evident in the victory of parties like SBSP in UP, which hadn’t won a single election since 2014 until 2017, when it allied with the BJP for the first time.

The BJP led by PM Narendra Modi, is also expected to do well in the 2019 general elections and parties know that staying with and joining the party with a winning momentum will bode well for them in years to come. A look at the states that go polls later this year and next year show that the BJP could build on its momentum. In Gujarat, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the BJP would have been in power for 15 years by the time polls are held. Rajasthan, which goes to the polls next year, is also ruled by the BJP led by party heavy-weight Vasundhara Raje. Himachal Pradesh, the only state among those going to polls ruled by the Congress, has been voting out the incumbents since 2003. With past, present and future looking good for the BJP, smaller parties could find the saffron outfit more irresistible in the times to come.