oppn parties BJP Will Gain If The Regional Parties Rubbish The Congress

Story Of The Day

A 2,458-Point Rally Is Not Yet A Recovery

November 07, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
BJP Will Gain If The Regional Parties Rubbish The Congress

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-10-31 16:00:44

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

When the political situation in the country demands that the opposition parties, who are not individually able to take on the BJP across India, forge strategic alliances, a huge difference of opinion is being seen among them. The main issue is how to accommodate the Congress when forming these alliances.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC), after its resounding win in West Bengal, has become increasingly critical of the Congress. According to party chief Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Modi and the BJP have been able to get top billing only because the Congress has allowed them to do so by completely failing to put up a fight. In the recent past, she had also made it clear that she will not have any truck with the Congress. The TMC has also admitted senior Congress leaders from across India to its fold. Obviously, the party is trying to spread its wings (with Goa and Tripura being the first two targets) and despite Banerjee saying that the question of leadership of the opposition alliance will be settled at an appropriate time, the TMC has decided that Mamata Banerjee is best qualified to lead such an alliance, if it happens.

Senior RJD leader Lalu Prasad also said that his party cannot give seats to the Congress on demand only for them to lose those seats. He was referring to nominations for several seats where bypolls in Bihar were held recently. With the RJD, under Tejasvi Yadav, putting up a stellar show in the last elections in Bihar and almost snatching power from the JD(U)-BJP combine, the Congress has become a headache for the party as its vote share does not justify allocating it the number of seats it demands. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has never treated the Congress as an ally and is making a strong effort to dislodge the party's government in Punjab.

But the Shiv Sena, running the government in Maharashtra in alliance with the Congress, believes that Congress must to be included in any all-India alliance to take on the BJP. Sena leader Sanjay Rout recently said that no government can be formed at the Centre without including the Congress. In fact, he predicted that an coalition government with the Congress as the major partner will form the government in 2024.

There is no doubt that the Congress is, at present, the only party that can hope to take on the BJP in several big states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat and Karnataka. No other party has the reach and resources that the Congress possesses on an all-India basis. But those calculations fade away when two things are considered. The Congress has little or no support in the two biggest states of UP and Bihar and consequently, has been able to win less than 100 Lok Sabha seats in the last two Lok Sabha elections. Some of the regional parties like the TMC and the AIDMK came very close to the Congress in 2014 from a single state. Hence, many regional parties have now started treating the Congress like a hindrance and see no point in allying with it. The second point is that the party has not been able set its house in order. Both at national and state levels, dissidence is growing and the high command is not getting a grip. Then, in Rahul Gandhi they have a leader who does not inspire confidence, despite trying hard. The time when the Congress leader was considered the natural choice to lead the opposition alliance is gone. With strong leaders in regional parties who have held their own against the BJP making their presence felt, it is going to be difficult for the Congress to forge alliances if it insists on making Rahul Gandhi the face of such an alliance.

But one things is sure though - although Mamata Banerjee says that the Congress is responsible for the rise and continued dominance of the BJP and PM Modi, if the opposition is not able to forge an alliance in 2024 and if the Congress divides the opposition votes in several states, despite its diminishing vote share it will make things easy for the BJP in 2024. Then, of course, it would be the regional parties who will be responsible for perpetuating BJP rule. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

 Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.