Regional Parties Thrive On Families That Run Them

Even as battle lines are being drawn for the Lok Sabha polls, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who leads a Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government, has a word of caution for potential allies of the mahagathbandhan—the BJP is trying to make coalition governments appear unstable.

- Prathima Nandakumar

In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, he says the way forward for the opposition is to stay united and send out a strong message that a mahagathbandhan is good for the country.

Excerpts:

Opposition unity seems to be waning with parties like the Trinamool Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party deciding against an alliance with the Congress.

Regional parties have political compulsions, be it in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha or Tamil Nadu. The Congress was our arch rival. But we came together to form a coalition government in Karnataka. For any alliance to click, the partners need to be ready for big sacrifices. What is common to all regional parties is that they are all opposed to the Centre. But there can be no common strategy in each state. It has to be state-specific. My appeal to party leaders is to take the grassroots workers into confidence. Often, the alliance might be acceptable to top leaders, but not the cadres. With maturity, we can work together for better outcomes.

In this Lok Sabha polls, is it the BJP versus the rest or the BJP versus regional parties? There are many PM aspirants among the opposition parties.