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Will Opposition Unity Work Out?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-06-07 03:11:35

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

The opposition parties were all set to meet in Patna on June 12 with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar playing host. They were expected to sound the bugle for a united battle against the BJP in 2024. But suddenly, for no new reason, the meeting has been postponed and the venue has come under a cloud. It needs to be remembered that Patna as a venue for the meet was suggested by TMC leader and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee when Nitish Kumar had met her in Kolkata last month to propose the meeting of opposition leaders. Although after the Congress win in Karnataka Banerjee had softened her stand towards the Congress but she had cannily suggested Patna as the venue to provide Nitish the chance to call the shots and thereby keep the Congress at bay.

But it is also clear that after the impressive win in Karnataka and the good response to Rahul Gandhi's US trip, neither is the Congress is going to play second fiddle to any party in any such opposition meet nor is it going to allow any leader to usurp what the party thinks is the 'natural' right of Rahul Gandhi to lead any opposition front against the BJP in 2024.

Hence, it is also clear that although it is being given out that the meeting has been postponed as top leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and D K Stalin, among others, were not available on June 12 (although the date was finalized after Nitish had met both Gandhi and Kharge last month) and it had been decided that only top leaders will attend the meeting, the real reason is different. Actually, the Congress wants to be in the driver's seat and has now suggested that the meeting be held in Shimla (citing the hot wave conditions in Patna as the reason) with it playing host (Congress governs Himachal Pradesh). It was not reported whether leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and KCR would agree to the change in venue.

This is one hurdle that the opposition parties will have to remove permanently if they hope to present a united front in 2024. The Congress versus some regional parties battle will throw a spanner in the proposed (by Mamata Banerjee) one-to-one fight against the BJP with the strongest party in a region getting the chance to lead with all other parties abstaining from the contest and supporting that party. As is being seen, the Congress will try to keep an upper hand and is unlikely to cede total space to strong regional parties in their states. This means that opposition unity is still just a dream and it will require a lot of hard work and shedding of king-sized egos for it to actually work out. 

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