Lok Sabha Elections 2019: It looked like post 11 December Congress has managed to stitch together a 'Mahagathbandhan' [Grand Alliance] when in Madhya Pradesh both Akhilesh and Mayawati announced support to the Congress-led government there, after fighting electorally against each other. Congress itself in the leading role, in what it hopes to be a model for a national opposition alliance.

With Lok Sabha elections only four months away now and Prime Minister Narendra Modi planning a massive political campaign of 25 rallies in January alone to expand the influence of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in places like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where it has yet to succeed, Uttar Pradesh will always remain the battle-ground in 2019 and here it will be decided whether the idea of 'Mahagatbandhan' will click or not.

BJP and futuristic 'Mahagatbandhan' has major stakes in Uttar Pradesh. BJP as a political formation is clear about its strategy in UP but supposedly a 'Mahagatbandhan' is still a futuristic idea and what to tell about its strategy. Amidst all this Supreme Court verdict on Rafael deal has come as a major spanner where Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo has unequivocally stood with Supreme Court order and has rejected the demand of Congress Party for a Joint Parliamentary Probe. Yadav today speaking to jornalists said, "I think SC is supreme, we asked for JPC when SC was not in the picture but now SC's judgement has come, they have pondered on every aspect so if someone wants to question it in future they should go and knock SC's door."

This statement does not augur well for 'Mahagatbandhan' where Congress Party does not want to retract it's stand on Rafael deal when Rahul Gandhi in his entire campaign for assembly elections has raised the pitch on this defence deal issue and now it does not want to be defensive on this issue, whereas Akhilesh Yadav is in no mood to toe Congress line on this. After this it seems real realignment for 2019 has started and SP is looking beyond 'Mahagatbandhan' as for electoral contest is concerned, but the big question remains whether Mayawati has similar concerns for the idea of 'Mahagatbandhan'.

The author is Director of Centre for Objective Research and Development(CORD), Lucknow

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