“It’s not even up for discussion… It’s a distraction and I don’t want to get into it.” how is it Rahul Gandhi In London, he shrugged off a question whether he would be the prime ministerial candidate in 2024 against Narendra Modi. As for ‘broad opposition unity’, for which Gandhi made a strong case in the same discussion, this appears to be a good start.
Because for most of the opposition parties, Gandhi has not been acceptable as the ‘PM face of the opposition’ and this to some extent also prevented the ‘coordination’ of a larger opposition in the 2019 general elections. It saw PM Modi returning with a mandate even bigger than his first victory in 2014.
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In fact, many in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) see Gandhi as their ‘asset’ if he is projected as a challenger to Modi.
Gandhi says the key to “doing much better” in next year’s elections is for the opposition to come together with all its might to defeat the BJP. He also hinted at a surprise soon on this front. Senior Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O’Brien, in an article titled ‘How to defeat the BJP in 2024’ in The Indian Express, has said that the opposition should turn the Lok Sabha elections into a sum of state elections and Those parties lead in the states where they are strong.
But that may actually be easier said than done.
test of five states
Take the case of five big states with 230 Lok Sabha seats out of 543 seats.
Sample this: Will the Congress retreat in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where 120 Lok Sabha seats are at stake, and the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal United (JDU) contest almost all the seats? The Congress currently has only two Lok Sabha seats in these two states.
Will the Congress cede its place in West Bengal to the TMC, where the former has only two of the 42 Lok Sabha seats? Or, in Maharashtra’s 48 seats, where Uddhav Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are the major players and the Congress holds just one seat.
What will happen in Kerala where the Congress and the Left are rivals? Will the Left give way to the Congress, which has 15 of the 20 Lok Sabha seats? The Left and Congress alliance has failed in the recently held Tripura Assembly elections.
Any ‘great opposition’ unity needs to succeed in these five big states before it can become a model for the country.
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It seems that Gandhi is aware of such challenges. In London, he acknowledged that “there are different states that do things differently”, but said there was a lot of talk going on about coordination. “There are strategic issues that need discussion… Some states (are) very simple, some states (are) a bit more complex. But the opposition is quite capable of solving it.
Senior Congress leaders have already rejected the theory that the Congress may contest only around 200 Lok Sabha seats in the next elections and leave the rest for the opposition parties. Some people like Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel have already said that Gandhi is perfect as PM face. Gandhi said in London that every opposition party agreed with the central idea of his ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, but opposition leaders like Akhilesh Yadav And Nitish Kumar stopped participating in it.
Rahul’s case
Meanwhile, Gandhi claimed in London that there is an “undercurrent of anger” against the Modi government and said unemployment, concentration of wealth and price rise are issues on which the “larger opposition” should fight the next general election. No political party is fighting now in India, but we are now fighting the institutional structure of India, because we are fighting BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which have captured all the institutions of India and now There is no level playing field. In India, institutions are not neutral. We are fighting the institutions and the RSS-BJP,” he said.
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Senior BJP leaders scoff at talk of broad opposition unity, pointing to various earlier attempts where opposition leaders joined hands at various stages, only to go their separate ways when elections are held to protect their turf had come Several opposition players have already pointed to the declining fortunes of the Congress, saying it can no longer lead the opposition and trying to play a key role in uniting opposition forces like K Chandrasekhar Rao and Nitish Kumar.
So how would Gandhi handle such big egos and regional satraps?
“It is Mallikarjun Kharge’s job now! I will tell him my view, the real work will be done by the Congress President,” Gandhi said in London.
Meanwhile, sitting complacent, counting on the popularity of the BJP Narendra Modi Opposition unity against ‘mirage’.
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