Seat sharing will prove to be a litmus test for opposition unity

In the Bengaluru meeting, the Congress has made it clear that the party does not want the post of PM. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge himself made it clear that the party does not want the post of PM, rather they want to fight for the Constitution, democracy, secularism and social justice. The Congress clarified its stand on this issue and made it clear that if unity does not happen, it should not be blamed for it. After this, as if the way of claim has been opened for other parties. Who will be the prime ministerial candidate in 2024? Voice has started rising in the opposition camp regarding this. TMC has staked its claim first. TMC MP Satabdi Roy staked claim for the post of PM for Chief Minister Mamta. Said that then ‘we would like Mamta Banerjee to become (PM). For example, Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal are seen by their party leaders and workers as the prime ministerial candidates. However, Nitish Kumar has made it clear this year that he ‘does not dream of becoming the Prime Minister’.

Mamta Banerjee has neither denied nor accepted this, while Arvind Kejriwal’s dream is not hidden. He talks about this in almost of his speeches and is enthralled that ‘the PM of the country should be educated. The challenge that the opposition parties are facing for the prime ministerial candidate is not in front of the BJP. The 38 parties that have joined hands with the BJP know that the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the candidate for this post in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as well. Although seat sharing with regional parties will be a difficult path for BJP too, but not as much as the difficulties faced by the opposition parties. The real issue will have to be about seat sharing with the opposition parties. The issue of Prime Minister’s post can be decided after that. Both these issues are nothing less than chewing iron gram for the opposition parties. Congress has its own government in four states and coalition government in three states. Somewhere DMK is in alliance with RJD-JDU, JMM. Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bengal and leaders of many other parties have expressed their opinion agreeing that the Congress should stay away from their states. These parties do not want that along with the BJP, they also have to contest elections with the Congress. In such a situation, the dream of these regional parties to share in power becomes weak.

The Congress has not yet opened its cards on this issue. The Congress does not want to create hindrance in the opposition unity by raking up the issues of Lok Sabha seat sharing and Prime Minister’s claim from now itself. This will give an opportunity to the opposition parties to speak against the Congress and the Congress does not want to take the blame for breaking this unity. It is certain that if the Congress has to do the politics of the country and Delhi, then the seat sharing formula of the opposition parties will have to be rejected. At present, the Congress is in the mood to see the edge of oil and oil. The Congress, along with the opposition parties with full force, is in the posture of attacking the BJP government at the Center and does not want to weaken this attitude by airing any issue including the PM.

Seat sharing is the biggest issue in the opposition unity for the Lok Sabha elections. By showing any kind of haste on this issue, the Congress does not want to blame the break of unity on its own head. This is the reason why the Congress is hesitating to openly react to the claim of the Prime Minister’s post and seat sharing. In fact, Congress also has an idea that the strong claim for the post of Prime Minister will be made by that party which will have more MPs. Other parties can claim ministerial and other important posts only on the basis of the number of MPs, but it is necessary to have the maximum number of MPs for the post of PM, otherwise the claim will be weakened on this basis.

The real fire test for the opposition parties is to be on the seat sharing. The opposition parties have been avoiding taking any clear decision on this issue in the last two meetings. But the stand on this issue has been clarified, the issue of unity cannot move forward. The regional parties pushed to the margins by the BJP in the last elections are trying to stand again. In such a situation, their full emphasis will be on the fact that the Congress should withdraw from their states. Due to this, the votes that Congress gets can also come in their lap. If the Congress accepts this proposal of the opposition parties, then both its mass base and organization will be weakened. In such a situation, this proposal of regional parties has become a noose around the neck for the Congress. However, only in the third meeting of the opposition parties to be held in Mumbai, it would be clear that what stand the Congress would take if such a proposal comes. The Congress is standing at the crossroad on this issue. If the seat sharing proposal of the opposition parties is accepted then the already weakened BJP will be further weakened. If the Congress opposes the motion, it will not be possible to have opposition unity. In such a situation, the opposition will get a chance to hold the Congress responsible for the hindrance in unity, which the Congress will not want at the moment.

The opposition parties are taking steps with bated breath for this alliance of unity. The meeting in Patna was organized to see and show the BJP how many parties are openly with them. That’s why this meeting was limited to social interaction only. Even the name of the opposition alliance was not decided in the meeting. Political parties took a step forward in opposition unity in the meeting held in Bengaluru. In the meeting, the name of the alliance was unanimously decided as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (India). The thinking behind this was also that Prime Minister Narendra Modi often takes the name of India in meetings, that is why it will be difficult for him to take the name now. The real challenge for opposition unity will be in the third meeting to be held in Mumbai. It is also possible that national issues of seat sharing, PM’s post and contesting elections may not be decided in this meeting, the steering committee may be decided in the meeting. Doing this type of exercise can be considered nothing more than a penalty meeting in wrestling. To compete with the BJP, the opposition will have to come to real issues. Other issues including seat sharing will show the strength of opposition unity.

– Yogendra Yogi