UNITED IN OPPOSITION

OPPOSITION PARTIES MAKE MOVES TO GET TOGETHER TO TAKE ON THE BJP IN THE 2024 LOK SABHA ELECTION, BUT ANY SUCCESS WILL DEPEND ON THE CONGRESS

- Kaushik Deka

ON AUGUST 20, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi held a virtual meeting with the leaders of 18 other political parties in opposition to the BJP, which is in power at the Centre. This was the third such meeting convened by the Congress’s top leadership. During Parliament’s monsoon session, Rahul Gandhi had met with opposition leaders twice, hosting a breakfast for them on one occasion. These developments are being seen as the first concerted moves by the Congress to create an alliance of anti-BJP parties since Prime Minister Narendra Modi first came to power in 2014.

While the next Lok Sabha election is three years away, this early alliance-building seems to have been triggered by the realisation that opposition parties need to formulate a cohesive and consistent narrative against the BJP to take advantage of the public despair resulting from the loss of lives and economic devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. There have been other catalysts too. Buoyed by a comprehensive victory over the BJP in the West Bengal assembly election, chief minister and TMC (Trinamool Congress) chief Mamata Banerjee also visited the national capital to meet opposition leaders, including those from the Congress, setting herself up as a potential lynchpin for an anti-BJP alliance. Prior to that, the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) strongman Sharad Pawar had held parleys with opposition leaders too. These developments have prompted the Congress to stake its claim to the leadership position in the opposition space.