In ally trouble, Congress looks to NDA's Nitish

New Delhi: With less than a month to go before General Elections 2009, ally politics is gaining momentum with the Congress-led UPA coalition showing clear signs of disintegrating.

UPA ally PMK has indicated its intention of backing out and RJD’s Lalu Prasad has already embarrassed the party in Bihar by offering it limited seats.

Looking desperately for options and support, the Congress is now reaching out to JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar, part of the NDA alliance.

The party on Thursday came out in open support of Nitish Kumar's condemnation of Varun Gandhi, saying the Bihar CM has proved his secular credentials with his opinions.

“Nitish Kumar is proving his secular credentials. Varun Gandhi is communal and must be prosecuted. The arms of law are not so short that they cannot take action. Varun is being used as a guinea pig to poison the elections. No one who is interested in India's unity will tolerate this. Nitish Kumar is just adhering to a kind of national ethos,” Cong spokesperson Veerappa Moily said.

Meanwhile, the PMK – led by Health Minister Anbumabi Ramadoss – will make clear its position on supporting the coalition. PMK had indicated a tie-up with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi-led DMK but has still not made clear its intentions.

In the 2004 elections, the DMK got almost 25 per cent of votes in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK got about 30 per cent and PMK grabbed nearly seven per cent of the votes in the state.

The UPA vote share in Tamil Nadu increased to 14 per cent after the PMK joined them in the last general elections.

However, Congress is clearly on the defensive. “Congress used to have alliances with the AIDMK and it used to come to power. When we allied with the DMK it came to power. This is the crucial role that the Congress plays in Tamil Nadu politics. So I do not think we can say that the UPA is losing its allies. It may get more alliances, stronger alliances and we will be in a position to form a more stable govt after these elections,” said Moily.

The worries for Congress do not end here. RJD’s Lalu Prasad – who had stitched an alliance with LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan – has forged a new alliance with the Samajwadi Party in the state.

However, officially, all the three leaders maintain they are a part of the UPA and want to see Manmohan Singh as PM again.