path of opposition unity

—Anil Narendra

Whether opposition unity against the BJP will be possible in the coming Lok Sabha elections will depend on the stand taken by the Congress. Mamta Banja, Sharad Pawar and Nitish Kumar want like-minded parties to field a single candidate for 474 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats. According to this formula, except for Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, the Congress gets 249 seats. In such a situation, if the Congress does not increase its heart, then opposition unity is impossible. In fact, there is a meeting of opposition parties in Patna under the leadership of Nitish Kumar on June 12 regarding opposition unity, in which Rahul Gandhi will also participate.

JDU, NCP and TMC want Congress to show big heart before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and claim only those seats except Telangana, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala where the party stood first or second in the last election. Leaving this formula, Congress will get 244 seats. In the last elections, except for these four states, the party had finished second on 192 seats in a direct contest with the BJP, while the party had won only 52 seats. Nitish Kumar is playing the biggest bet on the pretext of opposition unity. With the ambition of becoming the Prime Minister, Nitish wants to unite the Janata Parivar along with the opposition unity. After keeping his distance from the BJP in Bihar, Nitish has held many rounds of talks with RLD, SP, INLD and RJD for integration. Nitish feels that if integration takes place, his influence will increase in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and Karnataka.

There is no longer a contender for the post of PM in the Janata Dal family. Mulayam Singh is no more in this world. Then Prasad is unwell. HD Deve Gowda is old. Apart from this, all the attention of his second generation is on state politics. The Congress was in a surrender mode before the Karnataka elections. Earlier in the meeting held for opposition unity, his stand was very defensive. However, after the results of Karnataka, the party placed a condition for unity. The party has given a clear indication that it cannot compromise with AAP, BRS, Left parties of Kerala. In view of this condition, Nitish, Mamta, Pawar have presented a formula of 474 seats for the agreement. JDU sources say that if there is no talk at the Patna meeting, then opposition unity will be very difficult.

JDU sources say that the meeting of opposition parties on June 12 is important. Mamta, Nitish and Pawar want the Congress to agree to contest only 244 seats out of 474 seats in this meeting. If Congress is not ready for this, then the possibility of opposition unity will be spoken. JDU sources say that the Congress is most in need of a change of power in Vendra, in such a situation only it should open its heart.

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