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

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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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. 

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