No doubt, India is in the midst of a crisis — a crisis of expectations and the system's failure to respond. It is in the midst of a war-like situation of sorts. But will a national government help, even if it comes about, when the different parties have conflicting programmes, not one target as happens during the warf •Perhaps Lok sabha Speaker Shtvraj Patil saw early in the day that the next parliament would have no party enjoying a majority He started talking to dif lerent political parties some time ago on the ways to have a stable government al the Centre. Not long ago. he even circulated a 32 page document among leading MPs and some others to suggest certain amendments to the constitution.

Prime Minister Narasimha Rao encouraged him: so did Atal Behari Vajpayee, the opposition leader who. In a press interview commended the Speaker s efforts. It appears that the unwillingness of political parties to risk a change dampened Patils spirits. Some Thoughts, as he enti tied the document, have not gone beyond the stage of a limited discussion.

He is not enthusiastic over the presidential form of gov eminent which his paper ar gues. gives stability, not accountability. His emphasis is on making the office of prime ministership a llnch pin for protecting democracy from sliding olf the rail. He believes that a few more provisions in the constitution can ensure that the prime minister has the backing of the nation, not a particular political party

One of his proposals is that the prime minister should be elected* by the Lok Sabha Only on the election of the other person should the prime min Ister elected previously be ousted. Another is that the prime minister should be elected by two-thirds of the members of both the houses: still another is that the prime minister should be elected by the majority of the Lok Sabha and not with a single majority The term will be for five years, as is today

In a way. the proposals epitomise the idea of a national government. Such a formation is possible during the war when political parties defer their differences to fight an outside enemy. The arrangement works till hostilities last

Domestic problems are only pushed into the background, not solved

No doubt. India is in the midst of a crisis — a crisis of expectations and the systems failure to respond. It is in the midst of a war like situation of sorts. But will a national gov ernment help, even if It comes about, when the different par-lies have conflicting pro grammes, not one target as happens during the war?

in fact, one party is trying to gain at the expense of the other: no ethical considerations have pulled anyone back. When political parties have ceased to be sensitive to means and values, there is no purpose In stringing them together liecause they will politick tn the name of the country or nation.

Even otherwise, the propo sftion will not work since political parties will forsake their affliction only outwardly. The example of Janata Party 11977-79) is before us The erstwhile Jana Sangh merged into Janata but kept its identity alive Inwardly.’ When it was asked to cut off its ties with the RSS. the Jana Sangh members pre-ferred to form a separate or ganisalion. the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The idea of a national government was tested in 1990 when the Janata government was tottering. West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, then abroad, was approached to head a national government (the BJP was kept out) But hr said no on the ground that he would not head a government until the CPI (M) attained a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own. R Venkataraman, then president, also toyed with the idea of a national government and proposed the name of

Shankar Dayal Sharma, then vice president, to head It.

• Knowledgeable people believe that tt was Venka-tara-man who himself floated the proposal of a national government so as to have a stint as prime minister Subsequently he developed cold feet and gave it up because the president becoming prime minister would set a bad precedent. In any case both Venkataraman

and Shankar Dayal Sharma tossed back tbe proposal to each other for such a long time ihat fresh elections became inevitable.

Yet the eventuality ol a hung parliament cannot be wished away. It will have to be faced after the next Lok Sabha elections. No political party will have a majority. Neither Congress nor the BJP, the two major political parties, will be in a position to form the gov ernmerit qnless the two join hands — a proposition difficult to imagine.

Whatever their claims, the two have done badly in the state polis. Since the parliamentary elections in 1991. as many as 16 states have gone to the polls. Congress rules over seven. Including Himachal Pradesh. Goa. Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, the last one through the mechanisations of the state governor. These four states have a popu lation of less than 50 lakhs and command eight seats in the Lok Sabha.

The other three states in ' which Congress has won are: Madhya Pradesh. Orissa and

Punjab where most people boycotted the polls All the seven have a population of 11.5 crore against the 515 crore in the nine states where Congress has lost Seatwise comparison in the Lok Sabha is 79 of Congress and 299 of the opposition

The BJP has fared no bet ter It has won three and a half states Rajasthan Gujarat. Delhi and half of Maharashtra

in view of the party's alliance with the Shiv Sena These 3^ states have a population of 1< crore and 76 seats In the Lok Sabha.

Therefore, there is no go from a non-Congress and non BJP government at the Centre The CPI(M) has already announced that it would revive the National Front. True, the experiment has failed twice earlier. But that is no reason why it will not work if tried again. The weakness of the coalition was the absence of ideological content and coherent leadership. This would be largely overcome if the CPI(M) were to Join the government. If and when formed. The party would be a cementing force. It cannot be a cheer leader alone, it has to participate

Karnataka chief minister Deve Gowda has already begun sounding several stale leaders outside the Jahat.i Dal. At some stage, the Congress dissidents. Including Arjun Singh, may also be approached. But they have to get over the phobia of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Jawaharlal Nehru Is acceptable, not the cult of dy-

nasty

The constituents of National Front are confident because despite the dynastic factor in favour of Congress they have won convincingly The five states they have bagged since the Lok Sabha polls are: UP, Bihar Andhra Pradesh. Karnataka and Stkkim They embrace a population of 22.2 crore and 207 seats irt the Lok Sabha Their numbers are more than the states ruled by the Congress and the BJP put together

On the verdict of state elec-tions. Prime Minister Narasimha Rao should have resigned The Janata dismissed the Congress state governments after it won the Lok Sabha polls on the plea that they had ceased to enjoy the people s support Indira Gandhi did likewise and

ousted the non-Congress governments after coming to power in 1980 The same logic can work backward: the state elections Indicate the opinion of voters.

The biggest problem that the new combination will face is: who will lead it? The serious contenders are Andhra Pradesh chief minister N T Rama Rao and Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, the latter is backed by Janata Dal leader VP Singh At some stage UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav will also throw his hat in the ring.

Were the CPI(M) to announce its willingness to join the National Front government. Jbe various claims may come to an end West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu would be an automatic choice by the dint of his tenure and stature. No other chief minister has lasted so long. His chief ministership may set at rest the doubts about the stability and accountability of the office of prime ministership, the point that the Lok Sabha Speaker has been making during his talks with leaders of different political parties.