Mumbai: In a significant development, the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, on Tuesday dumped election strategist Prashant Kishor’s plan to exclude the Congress from the proposed national front to take on the BJP in the 2024 general election. The Shiv Sena strongly argued that instead of several fronts, there should be a single front comprising the Congress, and has appealed to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to take the initiative for the formation of such a front.
After a 45-minute meeting with Rahul, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, “The opposition cannot have a front without the Congress. If there are two or three leads, they cannot offer options. Therefore, the opposition should have a single front.’’
“There was a long discussion with Rahul Gandhi. I have appealed to Rahul to take the initiative for a single opposition front. Efforts are being made to bring the opposition together. You have to take the initiative in convening a meeting and forming the opposition front,” Raut said. He added that the leadership issue would be discussed later.
“An opposition front is not possible without the Congress. The face of the opposition front may be a matter for discussion. Rahul Gandhi will soon visit Mumbai. There should just be only one such front,” he reiterated.
By inviting Rahul to take the lead for the formation of an opposition front, Raut has also snubbed West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for her attempt to ridicule Congress by asking, ‘Where is UPA, what is UPA?’ Raut also shared NCP Chief Sharad Pawar’s view that there was no question of the exclusion of the Congress party from the proposed front. Pawar has repeatedly said that Congress, which has a presence at the national level, has to be an integral part of the opposition front.
To a question whether the Shiv Sena would be part of the Congress-led UPA, Raut said, “I will first meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and then talk about it.”
When asked if the Shiv Sena would try to bring together the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, Raut said that Sharad Pawar, who was a strong and great leader, was up to the task. During the meeting which was also attended by Congress General Secretary K C Venugopal for a few minutes, they discussed opposition unity, the functioning of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government with the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress, some organisational issues and the present political situation in the country, Raut informed.
The meeting on Tuesday was important,given the rising bonhomie between Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the proximity between Raut and Rahul, with their commitment to continue the alliance in the Lok Sabha as well as the Maharashtra assembly elections.
“Rahul Gandhi inquired after the health of Uddhav Thackeray. Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had met me in Parliament on Monday, had also inquired about the health of the chief minister. Rahul is scheduled to visit Mumbai later this month and wants to meet the CM,” said Raut.
Maha Vikas Aghadi is ‘mini-UPA’
Earlier, Raut had declared that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was like a mini-United Progressive Alliance which was doing well. “The Congress is in power along with the Shiv Sena and the NCP in the MVA and the state government is doing very well. We function on the basis of a Common Minimum Programme, similar to the UPA or even the NDA, where parties with different views come together for the cause of the nation,” he said.
Raut recalled that in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the late Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, there were many with ideological differences and some even opposed the Ram temple in Ayodhya, but they all worked together.
“The MVA also has three parties with dissimilar views working on a common minimum programme. It is an experiment and the MVA is like a mini-UPA. Such experiments must be emulated elsewhere in the country,” Raut urged.
