Unity Chorus Is Out Of Tune

Can opposition parties sink their differences to put up a credible alliance to take on Modi­led BJP?

- Preetha Nair

A day before Valentine’s Day, a rather curious love story was taking shape in Parliament. Congress lawmaker Adhir Ran­jan Chowdhury went hammer and tongs at the Trinamool Congress over its alleged involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam and the comments left Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was also pres­ ent in Parliament House that day, furi­ ous. “I won’t forget it,” Mamata was quoted as saying when she met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Gandhi was quick to pacify the mercu­ rial Trinamool supremo. “We may acc­ use each other but we are still friends,” Sonia told the chief minister.

Hours later, Mamata joined Congress leaders among others in a rally, ‘Save the Constitution’, and declared that her party was ready to be part of a united Opposition to take on the Narendra Mod-led BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. The same day, Mamata attended another Opposition meeting along with Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the house of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar. The agenda was the same: opposition unity to defeat the BJP.