Whither grand alliance?

Congress should manage regional parties better

There has been hectic activity in political circles in the past few days. First, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah, exhorted the party cadre to make one last push towards defeating the so-called Mahagathbandan or grand alliance among several Opposition parties. In fact, the PM appealed to the citizens to use the NaMo app and share with him whether a grand alliance will work in their areas. Both Mr Modi and Mr Shah also termed the tie-up between the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party as a “leaderless opportunistic