Oppn begins to take steps towards unity

At a basic, literal level, the effort by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and some other non-BJP leaders since last month has been to work together to find a common candidate for the election of the new President if the ruling party — an euphemism for Prime Minister Narendra Modi — won’t agree to work towards a consensus on giving President Pranab Mukherjee a second term, or finding someone else acceptable to both sides.

Efforts, accompanied by all the necessary political exertions, will no doubt carry on in that direction in the coming weeks. The next presidency is due to begin on July 25. There would also be an appearance of consultation with the Opposition parties on the part of the BJP, as party president Amit Shah indicated on Saturday. But there can be no getting away from the fact that Mrs Gandhi’s key concern is to mobilise and organise an effective index of Opposition unity for the 2019 general election. That is the basic story.

Much is being made of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar not attending the lunch for the Congress’ non-BJP colleagues by Mrs Gandhi on Friday while he attended the lunch by Mr Modi for the visiting Mauritius PM on Saturday to which he was invited, although he explained that he couldn’t miss the lunch in honour of the leader of Mauritius, a country settled mostly by people from Bihar.

Mr Kumar’s logic is not without merit, though he could have managed both meetings, knowing that his missing the Congress president’s lunch would invite comment. But there is a larger reality here that shouldn’t be lost sight of. Although his present ties with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav are tricky, the Bihar CM can’t wholly alienate the RJD chief as that could mean the crash of his government. Two, if Mr Kumar fancies his chances as the next PM, the BJP won’t give him that opportunity. So he can hardly afford to fall out with the other Opposition parties, specially the Congress and RJD, and particularly over the issue of the President’s election.

If the election for the presidency is but a stepping stone to the difficult task of forging the unity of all anti-BJP forces by 2019, the going has not been entirely fruitless for the Opposition so far, even if the ruling side does have the edge for the presidency and in that event an NDA party like Shiv Sena won’t walk across the aisle.

The main Opposition parties of North India do appear to be moving closer, learning from the politics of elections in the past three years, and West Bengal’s parties can sit together despite having been bitter foes. But there is still some way to go yet.