SELFISH ties don’t stand the test of time. In the meeting of the Opposition parties hosted in Patna by Mr Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar and Janata Dal (United) leader, differences emerged sharply between parties that ironically had convened to set aside differences. This has rightly made common people wonder if 17 parties attending the meeting could really sustain ‘unity’ till Lok Sabha elections. Rather than unity, reservations and attempts to hide discord were on display. The biggest discord was between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Mr Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, and Congress party. Mr Kejriwal wanted all Opposition parties attending the meeting to stand with AAP in opposing the ordinance on administrative powers in Delhi. In particular, he wanted Congress party represented by its President Mr Mallikarjun Kharge and Mr Rahul Gandhi to make its stand clear on the issue.

 

As it did not happen, Mr Kejriwal threatened not to attend future meetings, reflecting that each party in the Opposition has own selfish agenda to pursue and gain from strength of others in the name of unity. Whatever the tall claims these parties might make, their combined strength is less than 200 in the 543-member Lok Sabha at present. Congress has the highest 52 seats. Whereas, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoys a thumping majority with 303 seats. Even if these parties unite, the already-emerging cracks are bound to play their role. Most of these are regional parties whose politics rests on issues of local importance. Besides, one must not forget that when Congress was in power in the Centre, it had cracked down on State Governments formed by regional parties. As Lok Sabha elections draw closer, this history is bound to haunt Congress. Further, the case of Maharashtra offers better understanding of how the so-called unity may not be able to find common ground. In Maharashtra, not long ago, three of the parties attending Patna meeting had come together to form Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). However, the MVA Government of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, and Shiv Sena (Thackeray) could not last long because the so-called unity was unnatural. The constituents of MVA differed on various issues, confusing own supporter base.

 

Besides, they could not contest all the elections within the State together as aspirations of local leaders did not allow for ceding seats to allies. Now, despite the three parties sitting in Opposition, differences still exist on issues like Hindutva, Swatantryaveer Savarkar and others. Even among parties that attended the Patna meeting, there were some political rivals. So, even if they claim to have come together, their unity will last only as long as the choice for a leader of coalition comes up. As soon as that stage comes, the unity will vanish in thin air because personal ambitions will overshadow unity for the sake of power. Above all, one must understand that only a few of the Opposition parties have come together for Patna meeting. This so-called united block did not invite Bahujan Samaj Party, and Rashtriya Lok Dal did not attend the meeting. Some of the attendees did not even have one Lok Sabha seat to their credit. Given these things, the attempt at divided Opposition’s unity may at best prepare a common ground for losing out in the battle against a strongly organised BJP.