Labour pangs (have been) experienced by the BJP in full measure ... This is not the government that the BJP wanted - and it will necessarily be an unwanted child. And senior BJP leaders are candid about the fact that this coalition experiment is a "necessary evil" that would pave the way for a "full-fledged BJP government at the Centre ... The BJP leaders wee visualising a situation in which the party could get a majority on its own. They were then talking a different language. At the party's Bhubaneswar conclave, the BJP president L.K. Advani, saw a "tidal wave" in favour of the party and said it would not surprise him if it got a majority on its own.

.. The BJP leaders did not see any need for a common minimum programme with the allies. One senior leader said, "The allies could come and join the government on the basis of the BJP's manifesto or, if they preferred, they could give support from outside, or even sit in the Opposition if they so wished." It was a clear signal that the allies would have to join a BJP government on its terms. There would be no question of accommodation of their point of view.

Midway through the election campaign, it became increasingly clear that far from getting a majority on its own, the BJP would have to struggle to get a bare majority even with its 14 alliance partners, some of them cobbled together on the eve of the elections by taking in the "left overs" from the Congress(I) and the JD. And it was then that Advani and Vajpayee began admitting that a common minimum programme would be needed.

As it became clear that the BJP would not only have to lean heavily on its allies but also have to garner some more support to reach even a bare majority ... the party leaders ... looked as if they were being readied for the slaughter house rather than a coronation, and they began talking of mutual accommodation.

 Over the last decade which has seen the BJP spread its wings to different parts of the country and record a phenomenal growth, the party has been selling what it described as its USP - a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, scrapping of Article 370 ... and a uniform civil code among other things. And ... in a 'national agenda' for a possible BJP-led government, the party was ready to abandon all its pet issues.

Corruption was its "big issue" earlier but the party learnt to turn a blind eye to it ... The latest stance is that "the BJP cannot apply its own strict policy to its allies. "For the last two years, it has described the United Front Government as a "khichdi (hotch potch) government, and i is how leading a government no better placed to take firm decisions.

The BJP party structure is such that Mr. Advani will continue to call the shots and he, in turn, will have to take the RSS leadership into confidence on all major policy decisions. In addition, there will be the pulls and pressures from the allies. Mr. Vajpayee ... cannot brush them aside and pretend that he would be a Prime Minister with full authority.

For the moment, the BJP has faced a problem from one of its allies, the AIADMK, but others cannot be too far behind. And when Ministry-making actually takes place, there will be a lot of heartburning in the BJP camp itself.                     (Source: The Hindu, 15 March, 1998)