New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is ready to walk the talk of creating a workable opposition front that can take on the might of the Prime Minister-led BJP in the 2024 general election by convincing those political parties that are till now unwilling to join a Congress plus front.
The Wednesday meeting between Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav readily accepted the Bihar Chief Minister’s offer by him to talk to the so-called difficult parties that have been reluctant to come for talks where the Congress was present.
Nitish leads the way
In the meeting, it was decided that the outreach to various opposition players would follow the divide and conquer strategy, sources said. While the Congress will reach out to friendly and like-minded parties like Uddhav Thackeray's faction of Shiv Sena, and Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Nitish Kumar has taken up the responsibility of doing the real heavy responsibility.
Media reports read too much in Sharad Pawar’s opposition to a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row creating an impression that projected opposition unity had gone for a six. Nitish Kumar had already set up the meeting on Wednesday and Pawar was to be present at the meeting..
Pawar said he was meant to be part of the Congress-Nitish Kumar meeting but he had some other work in Maharashtra. "I will go to Delhi and meet them," the NCP leader told reporters.
Nitish to speak to parties who are equidistant from BJP, Congress
Sources say that Nitish Kumar has agreed to speak to parties who remain equidistant from the BJP and the Congress. It includes reaching out to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
Nitish Kumar didn't waste time - he met with Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday night itself. "I am completely with him. It is extremely necessary that the entire opposition and the country come together and change the government at the Centre," Kejriwal said after the meeting.
The Bihar Chief Minister also has the task of reaching out to K Chandrashekar Rao of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress. Both these parties have refused to do business with the Congress, so it will be interesting to see whether Nitish Kumar's outreach will bring a turnaround.
"Nitish formula"
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United (JDU) has proposed what they call the "Nitish formula" of opposition unity, sources say.
"The only way to win against Narendra Modi is to follow a one against one policy in 2024, which means one seat, one candidate from the opposition against the BJP candidate," said senior Janata Dal United leader KC Tyagi.
Tyagi told media this is not a new formula, and this strategy has delivered results in 1977 and 1989. However, in both these cases, the Congress party returned to power within two years.
It will also be interesting to see how many players in the opposition ranks are willing to follow the one seat, one candidate formula.
"We will be sitting and discussing various formulas and are willing to have various strategies in the run-up to 2024. The idea is for all like-minded opposition parties to come together on a common meeting ground," said Nasir Hussain, a Congress MP who was present at the meeting between Nitish Kumar and Mallikarjun Kharge.
As a sub-strategy, Nitish Kumar's deputy Tejashwi Yadav has been given the responsibility of talking to Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, who is his family friend and relative.
Left leaders said the idea was for "secular, democratic forces" to come together and maximise the anti-BJP vote.
"Nitish Kumar is taking some initiative to build the unity of secular democratic parties. The country is passing through a very critical period. The Constitution and democracy are under attack. It is important for parties to come together against the BJP," said CPI's D Raja.
Modi govt closely monitoring the changing situation
The Modi government and the BJP are maintaining a very close vigil over the opposition moves, ready to use all means at their disposal to wreck Nitish Kumar’s efforts. But there is also a panic and nervousness.
The BJP responded to this new formation with skepticism. "This is exactly the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a coalition of the corrupt. How are they going to ever sort out their internal differences?" asked BJP spokesperson RP Singh.
