NITISH IS NO KINGMAKER LIKE HARKISHAN SURJEET

It will be a difficult task for the Bihar Chief Minister to be an alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

- AJIT MAINDOLA

Will Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar be able to unite political rivals in the opposition camp like CPM stalwart Harkishan Singh Surjeet could do on several occasions in the past? There used to be only two frontsBJP and the Left-in the era of Surjeet. He had played a pivotal role in installing the VP Singh government by uniting both the BJP and the Left bloc in 1989. Similarly, Surjeet was also instrumental in installing the Congress-led UPA government with the outside support of the Left Front in 2004.

But the situation is totally different now. There are multiple parties whose leaders cannot come together, given their personal ambitions and political lines in states, which is what makes it a difficult task to unite all the opposition parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While efforts are underway to float a front of the opposition parties for the 2024 electoral battle, the BJP wants emergence of such outfits which could split votes of the opposition camp. The saffron party is aware that like BSP, the AAP and Owaisi's outfit will not go with any political party in opposition.