THE plans of a joint Opposition front appear to be running into roadblocks with the Congress party becoming more assertive and demanding, of course following the victory in Karnataka legislative elections. The Congress party appears to have found a new formula to put up a fight with the Bharatiya Janata Party, as per which it is trying to chart a new course of action unmindful of what other Opposition parties have to say. This has put in jeopardy the efforts of Bihar Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar to forge an Opposition unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The new Congress formula, as many observers put it, is to use abuse as a tool against the BJP and Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi. That was what it did during the Karnataka election campaign -- going to the extent of calling the Prime Minister a poisonous snake. The electoral victory appears to have confirmed the Congress belief that by heaping abuses on the Prime Minister, it can ensure certain outcome of the battle of the ballot. Congress leader Mr. Rahul Gandhi seems to have followed the same formula during his recent trip to the United States. He kept targeting the Prime Minister and the country in a brazen manner, thus almost confirming the new-found formula of abuse.

 

However, this brazenness seems to have put other Opposition parties in a fix about the extent to which the efforts to forge a joint front could succeed. They have serious doubts about the positive impact of the Congress party’s abusive approach. A good indication of this came when Opposition leader Mr. Asaduddin Owaisi opposed many statements Mr. Rahul Gandhi made in the United States, meaning that Mr. Gandhi was going far beyond the legitimate right of the Opposition to criticise the Government. Another dimension to this issue is the objection of leaders like Ms. Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress and Mr. K. Chandrasekhara Rao of Bharat Rashtra Samiti to Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s aggressive approach to raising issues. They also criticise the Prime Minister and blame the Government for so-called failure on many fronts. But they do not seem to appreciate the brazen manner in which Mr. Rahul Gandhi makes statements on foreign soil painting the country in bad light.

 

The Congress party, however, does not seem bothered about such issues of decency. It thinks that it has found a way around the BJP and is going to stick to it. It does not realise that what appeared to have worked in a State election may not work at the national level. This is the real worry of the Opposition camp. Enough indications are available to suspect that in the time to come, the Congress party is going to resort to abusive statements -- probably thinking that by doing so it may be able to corner Mr. Narendra Modi. Other Opposition parties may not share this view. If forming a common strategy is one concern of the Opposition camp, finding a common face to stand opposite the immensely popular Mr. Narendra Modi is another. Because it has as many as four States under its belt, the Congress party is insisting upon having Mr. Rahul Gandhi as the Opposition face for the 2024 elections. This is the actual hitch, since other leaders have their serious reservations about Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. The Congress party, however, insists upon Mr. Gandhi’s leadership and cites the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the Karnataka poll campaign to push the claim. Thus, the Opposition is still groping in dark about how to strategise and who to lead the joint front. This has raised big question marks on the exercise of redefining its strategy, the Opposition is unsure of what it would do.