Do we deserve our political parties?

First it was the Left front led by CPI(M) who cried foul with Congress and UPA over the nuclear deal and quit the UPA. This was about 8 months ago.

Then it was Mulayam and Samajvadi Party, followed by Lalu and Paswan. They conveniently distanced themselves from Congress just when the elections are announced. Now they have formed a joint front. That Lalu and Paswan continues to be ministers is another matter.

Then it was the turn of the PMK who today joined the AIADMK front in Tamil Nadu and its ministers made the 'Sacrifice' of quitting ministerial posts with elections less than a month away.

At the outset it will appear that UPA has been weakened considerably. Nothing like that. These are mere posturings. It suits all these parties to scream against Congress in the election meetings and claim that all the misdeeds of this Government were not the responsibility of these parties who ruled with Congress for 5 years and were more often than not mischief makers in the Cabinet. Anbumoni Ramadoss did everything he can to destroy the health sector in India. Lalu, despite his claims to the contrary, has not done Railways a great favour. Though his tenure has seen profitability grow in the short term, this is at the expense of long term rolling stock develpment and passenger safety. Less said about Paswan , the veto excercised by SP and CPM on issues small and big, the better.

Congress do not have any presence in any of the States where these parties hold sway. It is virtually defunct in UP and Bihar, and is a non entity in West Bengal. Kerala, anyway, it is in the opposite Camp to CPM. Only in Tamil Nadu it has a presence and there its major partner is DMK. It can live without PMK and they in turn can live with Congress.

Post election, all these parties who have fought on opposing camps will join hands together again to cobble up a makeshift coalition.

Let them and the NDA remember the old adage, 'You can fool some people all the time, all the people some time, but not all the people all the time'

We the fools will have to wait for a few more elections to get the parties that we really deserve.