The top leadership of around 18 political parties will hold a meeting at Patna on Friday, touted to be the first major discussion of the opposition bloc to work out an alliance against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The exercise is being undertaken, though the differences within are well-pronounced even on the eve of the meeting.
The grand opposition meet, hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, is being seen as the first step towards the opposition parties finding the elusive common ground and unity in their desire to unseat Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.
The faultlines in the opposition grouping are only too visible even as an attempt is being made to ensure that the parties are able to arrive at an understanding, electorally as well as in terms of issues to be raised to take on the BJP government at the centre.
The Congress, the principal opposition party, has in the recent past stressed that it is ready to make sacrifices for the sake of bringing the various parties together in the fight against the BJP. However, the strong views expressed by its leaders in Delhi and Punjab against having any kind of understanding with the Aam Aadmi Party or supporting it with regard to the Centre's ordinance on Delhi's services lays bare the difficulties involved in bringing the opposition together.
The AAP, it is learnt, could walk out of the opposition meeting if the Congress fails to make it clear in the meeting that it will oppose the ordinance in Parliament. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is slated to attend the meeting, had sought time from Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi to discuss the ordinance issue, but in vain. The Congress has so far not made it clear whether it will oppose the ordinance in Parliament.
Kejriwal, meanwhile, has upped the ante over the ordinance on the eve of the meeting, writing to the opposition leaders to urge them to keep it on top of the meeting's agenda. He has also said that the Congress will have to make its stand on the ordinance clear in the meeting. Kejriwal has met several opposition leaders, some of them staunch allies of the Congress, and secured their support on the ordinance issue.
The Congress-AAP war of wits over the ordinance issue is an example of the Congress' difficulties in accepting regional parties as the major players in certain states even as its leaders have spoken about making sacrifices for the sake of opposition unity.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the meeting could result in the opposition parties adopting a resolution with regard to caste-based census across the country in a bid to blunt the Hindutva-based politics of the BJP.
Also on the table is the proposal that one-against-one fights are ensured between the opposition and the BJP in a majority of the Lok Sabha seats to ensure that the opposition vote does not get divided.
The meeting is slated to be attended by the apex leadership of around 18 parties. The Congress will be represented by Kharge and Rahul. The many regional heavyweights in the meeting will include West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Kejriwal and his colleague from Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, People's Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah. RJD President Lalu Prasad and his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who have along with Nitish played an important role in laying the groundwork for the meeting, will also be present.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D. Raja and CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya are among the Left leaders who will attend the meeting.
Nitish, who had in September 2022 severed his ties with the NDA, has since shown keenness in bringing the opposition together ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Over the last few months, he travelled to many parts of the country to meet various opposition leaders and get on the same page as regards the fight against the BJP.
