By The Editor
After severing ties with National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on August 9, 2022, veteran Nitish Kumar formed the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar with the Rashtriya Janate Dal (RJD) and the Congress and at present his important mission is to forge opposition unity including Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On April 12 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his Delhi residence to discuss ways to bring opposition parties together. Along with Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav he also met Sonia Gandhi when he took up the issue of Bharat Jodo Yatra and preparations for the Congress plenary session. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar who welcomed the move insisted that parties like Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Aam Admi Party (AAP) should be also included because Nitish’s experience in diplomacy and openness have been very beneficial. Bihar leader’s plan of action did not exclude fence sitters like the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) of Odisha and the YSR Congress of Andhra Pradesh for strengthening of opposition unity; the Congress is expected to reaffirm its ties with existing allies in states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand.
Naveen Patnaik had long association with the BJP. He was a member of Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Cabinet from 1998 till 2000; the BJD-BJP alliance won assembly election in Odisha with Patnaik becoming Odisha Chief Minister. The alliance was however broken in 2009 and since then he remains neutral though his attitude towards Nitish’s initiative is quite positive and open. Nitish Kumar along with Tejashwi Yadav then held discussion for about one hour with Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren at the latter’s residence which was fruitful. Nitish maintains that his mission is to play positive role in forging unity against the ruling NDA at the Centre and clearly states that he has no prime ministerial ambitions at all which has consequently earned praise and laurels amongst the opposition fraternity. Nitish believes that Congress cannot be kept out because of its potentialities, especially after recent humiliating defeat of BJP in Karnataka which has boosted the party’s image.
Within few months and before end of the year assembly elections will be held in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telengana and Mizoram to be followed by Lok Sabha election in April / May 2024. The Congress has to be well-prepared and so continues the fight with courage and determination in coming assembly polls while at the same time maintaining and preserving opposition unity which may otherwise imperil Lok Sabha polls. Since the 2019 parliamentary elections the Congress has lost all assembly elections except Himachal Pradesh. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot be ignored because it is observed that he is a great strategist especially after losing electoral battles and besides the party has huge financial resources. Before embarking on further activities involving all opposition parties concerned they feel that they should meet very soon to plan strategies for next elections.