By encouraging AIADMK chief Jayalalitha to believe that she can have a better life outside the BJP coalition the only rationale for her decision to withdraw support to the Vajpayee government the party exposed its own impatience to get back to the seat of power. It is amazing that Sonia Gandhi has little compunction in dealing with a person, who less than a year ago questioned her political and nationalist credentials.

The Pachmarhi declaration, which was interpreted as Sonia Gandhi's bold initiative to rejuvenate the Congress, had as its pivot the assumption that the Congress would go it alone. It was felt that there was no other wayfor the party to re-establish itself as a preeminent organisation in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. But at the first whiff of power when Jayalalitha descended on the Capital, the Congress gave all such lofty protestations short shrift. Yet, it continues to mouth platitudes like it will not shirk its responsibilities in the event the coalition government falls under the weight of its own contradictions.

The Congress knows the moment it announces its intentions, if any, to form an alternative government, many of the opposition parties would run away from it. The Janata Dal, INLD, DMK and the Communist parties are some of those which have genuine problems in supporting a Congress government, though some of their leaders like Harkishen Singh Surjeet may welcome it.

Similarly, any readiness shown to enter into an alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal would land it in a situation like in Jehanabad where its leaders could not even step in to sympathise with the Bhumihar victims ofa recent caste carnage. Since the impracticality of a Congress-supported government is well known in view of what the Congress did to a galaxy of prime ministers beginning with Charan Singh and ending with I.K. Gujral, it thought it prudent not to lay its cards on the table for it would have alerted those in the Opposition who do not favour an immediate election. Thus obfuscation replaced clarity in all its pronouncements since Jayalalitha turned increasingly venomous against the BJP government.

In keeping the nation in suspense on what its plans are for the future, the Congress may have made its task of pulling down the government easier but in the process its own image as the leading opposition party has suffered a major dent.

The impression about the Congress that has gained ground is not that of a party that leads but one that is led by smaller parties and their overambitious leaders. It is instructive that neither in the build-up to the AIADMK's withdrawal of support nor in the debate now underway inParliament, the Congress has shown any concern for the disastrous impact political instability will have on governance in general and the economy in particular.

In its overweening desire to see the back of the government, it seems to be prepared even to foist an unwanted election on the nation. All this does not redound to the credit of a century-old party that ruled the nation for over four decades.