Nalin Verma 
In a bid to unite the opposition against the incumbent BJP, a conclave of “like-minded political parties” will take place on June 12 in Patna. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is likely to preside over the meeting.
The event will be the first mega show of strength against the BJP in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Interestingly, the venue was suggested by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her meeting with Nitish in April.
Sources in the Janata Dal (United) [JD(U)] said that Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal have confirmed their attendance and the “process is on to get others on board too”.
After Nitish quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in August 2022 and switched over to the Mahagathbandhan or grand alliance, the BJP and the media termed the decision as his “greed and ambition to become prime minister”.
Since then, the BJP leaders have been asking who would be the opposition’s prime ministerial face. They say the efforts for opposition unity would never see the light of day because some leaders would fight among themselves for the prime minister’s post. Union home minister Amit Shah said that Modi will become the prime minister again and the BJP will win 300 seats.
“The opposition parties would meet on June 12 and Nitish ji would preside over it,” JD(U) spokesperson Manjit Kumar Singh said during the party’s two-day conclave that concluded in Patna on May 28.
Behind the scenes
The idea to unite the opposition had seemed impossible with the Bengal chief minister locked in a tussle with the Congress on her home turf, with Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav calling the Congress and the BJP the “same”, with the acrimony between the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress. Banerjee had also come up with a proposal to form a non-Congress and non-BJP ‘third front’. Yadav had refused to attend the concluding function of Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Srinagar.
Akhilesh Yadav, Mehbooba Mufti, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge and DMK leader T.R. Baalu. Photo: PTI/File
But Nitish took up the most arduous exercise to make the opposition leaders sit together and plan for the BJP’s ouster in 2024.
On the day he quit the NDA, he had emphasised the “centrality” of the Congress in any opposition alliance. To oust the BJP in the general elections, he had called for a “main front” with Congress as the prime stakeholder.
He had also rejected the possibility of a ‘third front’ or any other alliance without the Congress.
He consistently insisted that the Congress call him for a meeting. He also avoided meeting other opposition leaders ahead of meeting with the Congress leaders. But, the Congress’s long silence, coupled with its fabulous response to Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, led to speculations that the grand old party was not interested in Nitish.
On April 12, when the Congress called Nitish to party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s home, which Gandhi also attended. The meeting paved the way for Nitish to go ahead with his plans.
Nitish also met Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal to discuss opposition unity.
He also met Banerjee, Yadav, Odisha chief minister and Biju Janata Dal leader Naveen Patnaik, Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray. Except for Patnaik, all other leaders have agreed on the unity of the opposition parties to oust the BJP in the 2024 general elections.
JD(U)’s national spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said that the process to bring Telangana chief minister KCR and his Andhra Pradesh Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy into the broader opposition was in progress.
It is hard to say at this stage what Nitish – who is very conservative in sharing his strategies with the media – precisely communicated to the Congress and other parties.
The Congress has its own governments in four Indian states: Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. It is in a coalition government in three other states, including Bihar.
It’s speculated that Nitish convinced the Congress leadership that other parties would support it with all their resources, in the states in which it was in a direct contest with the BJP. In return, the grand old party will have to support the regional parties in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in the same manner.
Nitish is working on a strategy wherein the BJP could be engaged in a one-on-one contest with the opposition. He has already recognised nearly 475 seats where the united opposition can enter into a direct fight with the BJP in the 2024 polls.
However, the strategy of the opposition will become clear only after the June 12 conclave of the political parties.
Rise of Nitish, Rahul and Kharge
The last nine months have witnessed a rise in the image and clout of three people: Nitish, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge. What looks remarkable is that the three leaders have risen not by competing against each other but by carving out their own space in the opposition.
Kharge’s diligent and dexterous leadership has come to the fore since he was elected as the Congress president.
He oversaw Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and worked meticulously with his colleagues in Karnataka, his home state, to inflict the worst-ever defeat on the BJP in the assembly polls. He was also said to have worked diligently to make Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar agree to join as the deputy of Siddaramaiah.
Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Photo: Twitter/@INCIndia
After the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi is being seen in a new avatar: a leader who is vocal about pro-people and pro-poor policies. He’s also raised his voice against crony capitalism. And, he is a secular leader.
And, Nitish has emerged as a key leader in the opposition ranks. Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Arvind Kejriwal, who have been “uncomfortable” with the Congress as the leader of the opposition, appear to be more welcoming toward Nitish.
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, media educator and independent researcher in social anthropology.