Opposition unity to focus not on all Lok Sabha seats; Patna meeting for roadmap   

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, June 2: The principal movers of the Opposition unity agenda have agreed that the constituents need not focus on all 545 Lok Sabha seats. With Janata Dal (United) being the key architect of the Opposition unity, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is learnt to have proposed that the constituents of the umbrella grouping should think out of the box to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

“The top leaders of the constituents of the Opposition have come to an initial concurrence that they should focus on 475 Lok Sabha seats in the next year’s general elections. Certainly, we will not be wasting efforts on 70 odd seats where the stakes are not in favour of the members of the Opposition flank agreeing for strategy to work out on-on-one contest against the BJP,” a top ranking JD (U) official told The Raisina Hills.

The Opposition unity movers as of now have given up on Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Odisha, and the YSR Congress, Andhra Pradesh. “Both the parties are opportunistic fence-sitters, and, thus, there is no point bringing them in the Opposition camp. They will do business with the ruling formations at the Centre, irrespective of which party leads,” said a senior functionary from the JD (U).  

The leaders of the Opposition parties will be meeting in Patna on June 12 to zero in on poll strategy and common agenda for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While the Congress is the largest constituent of the Opposition block, leaders in the camp are hopeful that the main opposition party will back the efforts fully.

“One key challenge before us involves making all the stakeholders agree to delink the Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections. The idea that will be on the table is that we can be foes and friends, in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections,” added another top ranking functionary from the Opposition camp.

On the issue of Delhi Ordinance for which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is reaching out independently to the Opposition leaders also remains a stumbling block, for Delhi Congress leaders have been vocal in their support of the move of the Central government. On June 12 when the Opposition leaders gather in Patna, insiders said, the spotlight will be on the equations among the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress functionaries.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Save

About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

See author's posts