President polls: Opposition show of unity marred by absences

New Delhi: Cracks surfaced in the Opposition’s attempt at unity as Bihar chief minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar on Friday skipped the lunch hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, but is expected to fly in to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday.

Citing prior engagements for his inability to attend, Mr Kumar sent senior party leader Sharad Yadav to represent the party.

Conspicuous by their absence were also the Aam Aadmi Party and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD. Sources said that the two parties had not been invited by the Congress as they were its rivals in their respective states of Delhi and Odisha.

A total of 17 parties met for the luncheon meet hosted by Mrs Gandhi, which was apparently a show of strength on the third anniversary of the Modi government.

Altogether, these 17 parties add up to 120 Lok Sabha MPs, as opposed to the BJP’s 282.

Mr Kumar’s decision to skip Mrs Gandhi’s lunch, but attend the lunch being hosted by Mr Modi in honour of the Prime Minister of Mauritius has given rise to speculation that he could possibly be looking at the option of dumping RJD and returning to his old ally — the BJP.

Mr Kumar dismissed these “misinterpretations” and said that he could not attend the Mrs Gandhi’s lunch due to prior official engagements, while adding that Bihar had an old connection with Mauritius as it has a large of number of Bhojpuri-speaking people.

A senior BJP leader told this newspaper, “Nitishji has made it clear that he is not interested in being projected as a prime ministerial candidate, this can also be viewed as a signal that the JD(U) could be inching closer to accept Modiji as the Prime Minister for the next elections.”

If the JD(U) eventually decides to lean towards the BJP, it could come as a major boost for the saffronites, and the absence of Mr Kumar could possibly have an adverse impact on a united front against the BJP. Though the lunch meeting was ostensibly called to discuss a potential name for the Opposition’s presidential candidate, the attempt was to come under one umbrella and prepare ground for the 2019 general elections.

The parties gave Mrs Gandhi the mandate to form a committee comprising four-five people to decide on the future course of action as far as the presidential polls were concerned.

Mrs Gandhi’s lunch saw Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, as well as CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy and national secretary D. Raja bury hatchet and put up a show of strength.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were also present at the meeting.

Others who attended Mrs Gandhi’s lunch at the Parliament House library included RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav, DMK’s Kanimozhi, and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah.

Sources said that Ms Mayawati told the gathering of leaders that she was in favour of a united Opposition to take on the BJP. SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, who was also present along with Mr Yadav, seconded her comments on the need for Opposition unity.

“Main alag nahin hoon. Main apke saath hun (I am not separate. I am with you),” the BSP chief is understood to have told the gathering. Mrs Gandhi, in her brief opening remarks, said that the need of the hour was to come together.

Both Ms Banerjee and Yadav said that it was time that the SP, BSP and Congress came together in Uttar Pradesh to form a grand alliance before the 2019 general elections. At this, sources said, many leaders gave a round of applause. The Opposition meet also discussed joint floor coordination during the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament. No names were discussed for a potential presidential candidate from the Opposition side.

Instead, the parties put the ball in the government’s court saying if it failed to come up with a secular name, then the Opposition would field its own candidate.

Sources said that this was the standard protocol as the Opposition needs to give a reason to the government to put up a candidate of its own.

Also discussed in the meeting was the situation in Kashmir and the attacks on Dalits in Saharanpur. Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav said that the only achievement of the Modi government in the past three years was that the Pakistani flag was fluttering in Kashmir.  

Mr Pawar, who is seen as one of the possible presidential candidates, flagged the issue of farmers’ plight across the country due to the policies of the Modi government.

A joint statement issued after the meeting and read out by the Congress’ Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sharad Yadav said the normal practice has been that the ruling party takes the initiative to build a consensus on the names of candidates for these important offices.

The statement further said that since this had not happened so far, if an acceptable, consensus candidate does not emerge, then the Opposition parties shall decide to field such persons who can steadfastly defend the “constitutional values of our Republic”.