AA Edit | Operation Nitish welcome

Finally, Bihar chief minister and JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar has started taking intrepid and consistent steps with alacrity to forge unity amongst the Opposition parties, making sure he does not leave out anyone.

After first meeting the top Congress duo of senior leader Rahul Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Mr Kumar has also included the Left parties. Having earlier met and discussed the issue at length with Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, whose beleaguered party has every reason to join any pragmatic initiative to oppose the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP at the national level, Mr Kumar has also promised to reach out to more leaders.

Very soon, Mr Kumar has claimed he would meet two other regional leaders who are keen on a national formation, but are wary of the role of the Congress Party in such a joint effort, TMC boss and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and BRS supremo and Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

It would be a big move of the next stage if Mr Kumar, who has both the stature and experience to match Mr Modi and belongs to the Hindi belt with good relationships across the spectrum, after bringing in all these leaders, can also succeed in getting neutrals like Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy or TDP boss N. Chandrababu Naidu aboard.

Interestingly, several of the Opposition leaders are not only against the BJP for political or ideological reasons, but are also seeing the current developments as an issue of a battle for survival. The Opposition parties are trying to establish a narrative that the BJP is using graft as an excuse to unleash national agencies like the CBI, the ED and I-T and trying to politically arm-twist them, even as Mr Modi has dubbed it an uncompromising crusade against corruption and family rule.

It remains to be seen if Mr Kumar will succeed in his efforts, but the direction of work is welcome for a democracy which needs both a strong government and a strong Opposition.