NITISH’S MISSION OF UNITY

SOON AFTER ENDING HIS ALLIANCE WITH THE NDA, NITISH KUMAR STARTED THE PROCESS OF UNITING OPPOSITION PARTIES TO TAKE ON THE BJP IN 2024. HIS MATHS IS FLAWLESS, BUT GETTING ALL FRACTIOUS ELEMENTS ON BOARD IS A TOUGH ASK

- Amitabh Srivastava

AMID THE MONDAY MORNING BUSTLE OF THE CAPITAL ON SEPTEMBER 26, a relaxed air pervaded the 6, K. Kamraj Lane bungalow of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar—his official pad while in Lutyens’ Delhi. No slogan-shouting supporters on the lawns, nor people seeking favours milling around. The security personnel at the gate were having a surprisingly easy time. The place had been a hubbub of activity just a day earlier as Nitish prepared to accompany Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi. With the gravitational pull of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls getting stronger by the day, the two leaders had discussed one of the hottest political questions in India: the contours of an anti-BJP opposition. On that very day, Nitish had also attended the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Prakash Chautala’s rally in Haryana’s Fatehabad, held to mark the 109th birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal. Nitish, who had dumped the BJP and formed a mahagathbandhan government in Bihar with the RJD, Congress and Left parties in August, has now emerged as a prime galvaniser of a possible opposition front. At the rally, also attended by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, Nitish spelt out a simple formula. “If all these parties get together, they (BJP) won’t be able to win at all in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” he said.