Efforts to unite the Opposition have gained momentum. NCP president Sharad Pawar is likely to meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday to discuss both Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra and overall Opposition unity. The Opposition is working on a strategy to ensure one-and-one contest on at least 400 seats. As part of this exercise, Rahul recently met RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav, going extra miles to seal pact with the BSP.
Pawar, who is actively engaged in unifying the Opposition, has spoken with all major regional leaders like Akhilesh, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri and others.
He has also made efforts to reach out to BJD chief and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Andhra Pradesh CM and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana CM and TRS chief Chandrashekhar Rao, National Conference chief Omar Abdullah and others. Naidu has already broken ranks with the NDA and has not made his mind clear on future politics.
On the other hand, the Congress is also in touch with the SP and Mayawati’s BSP for an alliance in Madhya Pradesh as also with the AAP for an adjustment in Delhi. Uttar Pradesh (80), Maharashtra (48) and Bihar (40) have the most number of lok Sabha seats totaling 168.
Rahul’s meeting with Pawar comes against the backdrop of the NCP supremo’s willingness to take the lead unifying the Oppositions. “I would be happy to be instrumental in bringing together like-minded parties before the lok Sabha elections,” said Pawar after the BJP fared badly in the recent bypolls.
Sources said the former Union Minister has been working to take advantage of a possible split in the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra by reviving the NCP-Congress alliance and reinforcing it by roping in smaller parties like Raj Thackeray’s MNS and Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana.
Pawar has also asked Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray to join the anti-BJP bandwagon. Although there has been no official response from Shiv Sena to Pawar’s invitation, his move has sparked a raging debate in Maharashtra’s political circles.
“If Shiv Sena joins the anti-BJP camp, it won’t take long to change the political scenario in Maharashtra. The latest example of that is the Palghar by-election, where the BJP won, but combined votes polled for Shiv Sena, BVA and left were more than what the BJP,” said a Maharashtra State Congress leader.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh’s readiness to sacrifice some seats to forge an alliance with the BSP is being seen as an interesting development against the anti-BJP unity. The SP chief’s statement follows some unconfirmed reports that BSP chief Mayawati was more interested in an alliance with the Congress than the SP.
Mayawati has stated that she is for an alliance in UP only if her party gets a respectable number of seats. The BSP is said to have staked its claims on 40 lok Sabha seats out of a total of 80 seats in UP.
SP sources said after extending support to party candidates for Gorakhpur and Phulpur lok Sabha bypolls, Mayawati developed cold feet and her party remained neutral during the Kairana lok Sabha bypoll. The change in BSP stance forced the SP to rejig its political strategy.
“BSP is eyeing the 2022 Assembly elections and if she forges an alliance with the SP for 2019 lok Sabha polls then it might come in the way of the party’s plan for the 2022 Assembly poll,” said a senior SP leader.
He pointed out Mayawati has already forged a political understanding with the Congress to contest Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. She is also likely to strike a deal for Assembly poll in Rajasthan.
An Iftar party hosted by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday has also attracted a great deal of interest. The invitees include all those who were called for Sonia’s dinner earlier this year which was seen as an attempt to stitch together a “grand alliance” to take on the Narendra Modi juggernaut. All the political parties who have been invited have been asked to send in their representatives if they cannot send top leaders considering that the invitations have gone out at the last minute.
Incidentally, former President Pranab Mukherjee has not been invited at the Congress’ Iftar this year so is former Vice President Hamid Ansari.