Where is the Ideology ?

The recent political developments that have unfolded in past 3 - 4 days have compelled me to think about few questions . 

1. Where is the Ideology of any political party ? 
2. Do the ideology or founding principles play any role when it comes to forming an alliance with any other party for the sake of power 
3. Are there any ideologies or principles for our parties ?

For the purpose of answering these questions let us take the example of UPA 1 and UPA 2 , both the governments were coalition governments and are perfect examples for the cliched line "There are no enemies in politics, only differences of opinions " . 

To make my point clear see below the list of the current and past constituents of UPA (Source : Wikipedia) 

I dont know where to add Trinamool as its position is doubtful as of now .

Current Members

• Indian National Congress (206 MPs)
• Nationalist Congress Party (9 MP's)
• Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (18 MP's)
• Indian Union Muslim League (2 MP's)
• Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (3 MP's)
• All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (1 MP)
• Kerala Congress (Mani) (1 MP)
• Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (1 MP)
• Rashtriya Lok Dal^[26][27][24] (5 MP's)
• Sikkim Democratic Front (1 MP)
• All India United Democratic Front (1 MP)

Outside support is provided by:

• Samajwadi Party: (22 MP's)
• Bahujan Samaj Party: (21 MP's)
• Rashtriya Janata Dal: (4 MP's)

The total is 315 MP's which is above the requisite 272 MP's to stay in power.

[edit]Former Members                                                                                                                          

• Telangana Rashtra Samithi (joined the NDA)
• Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (joined the Third Front)
• Pattali Makkal Katchi (joined the Third Front)
• People's Democratic Party
• Samajwadi Party^[29] (joined Fourth Front)
• Rashtriya Janata Dal^[29] (joined the Fourth Front)
• Lok Janshakti Party^[29] (joined the Fourth Front)
• Republican Party of India (Athvale) (joined the NDA)
• Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (joined the NDA)
• Left parties 

As you can see the list has parties which are opponents at the state level  but are ready to partner at the centre for the sake of power . As Trinamool congress has withdrawn its support to the UPA , multiple news channels and papers have given the probable arithmetic for saving the governments , one such scenarios is given below from The Hindu .

As you can see in any equation SP and BSP play a major role and it is a known fact that both the parties oppose each others policies at the state level. As per the websites of both the parties their ideologies are as given below 

The Samajwadi Party believes in creating a socialist society, which works on the principle of equality and the party has a secular and democratic outlook. The Samajwadi Party believes in continuously working towards the upliftment of weaker sections of society and it stands against communal forces.

The ideology of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is "Social Transformation and Economic Emancipation" of the "Bahujan Samaj ", which comprises of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Scheduled Tribes (STs), the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Religious Minorities such as Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists and account for over 85 per cent of the country's total population. The people belonging to all these classes have been the victims of the "Manuwadi" system in the country for thousands of years, under which they have been vanquished, trampled upon and forced to languish in all spheres of life. In other words, these people were deprived even of all those human rights, which had been secured for the upper caste Hindus under the age-old "Manuwadi Social System".

After going through the above list and the party websites one point is clear that when it comes to elections  any party be it the idealistic left or an unscrupulous party like TRS forget all their ideologies and forge alliances just for the sake of power .

The scenario outlined is at the centre level but even at the state level in AP the situation is not any better . One party has already merged with congress and I have read in  papers a few days back that TRS might follow the suit if their demand of seperate Telangana is met . 

As with any analysis of the political situation in India my analysis also ends with the  conclusion that its the voters who are helpless and are victims of the party politics . Its not that people in UP are fools who dont understand this arithmetic . We may have a capable Prime Minister  and Finance Minister in  Manmohan singh and Chidambaram who are willing to carry out Economic reforms but I think we need a leader who is courageous enough to carry out electoral reforms .