Opposition Conclave In Patna Achieves Nothing, Decides To Meet Again In Shimla Next Month

Precious little was achieved at the meeting of 16 Opposition parties in Patna on Friday (23 June).

Apart from reiterating the need for Opposition unity, nothing concrete came out of the four-hour-long meeting that started at the official residence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at 11 am.

The only ‘agreement’ struck at the meeting was to meet again in Shimla on 10 July under the chairmanship of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. 

Leaders of all the 16 Opposition parties spoke at the meeting. All of them spoke of the need for the Opposition parties to fight the 2024 parliamentary polls unitedly. 

A senior Janata Dal (United) functionary who had first-hand knowledge of the proceedings told Swarajya that all the speakers said essentially the same thing in different ways.

The underlying message from each was that if Opposition parties do not forge a united front, they will not be able to stop Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from returning to power next year. 

Kharge and Rahul Gandhi contended that their party’s recent win in Karnataka showed that the BJP is not invincible. 

Nitish Kumar reportedly said that in order to forge unity and present a united face, all Opposition parties have to “adopt the spirit of give and take”. He said that this spirit should drive the seat-sharing talks that will be held later. 

But not even a broad agreement on the subject of a common agenda, or even the contentious seat-sharing formula that will be the real test of Opposition unity, could be reached. 

In fact, a strong divergence of opinion on chalking out a common agenda surfaced during the meeting. 

While some parties are in favour of it, others say that a common agenda, or a common minimum programme, can always be chalked out after the 2024 elections if the need for it arises.   

“Some parties are wary over what they feel could be viewed by voters as an ‘opportunistic alliance’ in the absence of a common minimum programme. Others say fighting elections unitedly on the basis of seat-sharing deals should be the foremost and only task before the elections,” the JD(U) leader said. 

The fragility of Opposition unity was driven home to all parties in Patna when Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Arvind Kejriwal took on the Congress for not extending its support to the AAP over the Union Government’s ordinance on Delhi’s services. 

The AAP wants the Congress to come out unequivocally against the ordinance and commit itself to vote against the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha. Congress president Kharge said his party will make its stand clear when the ordinance is tabled before Parliament for ratification. 

But that was not acceptable to the AAP. Kejriwal declared that he would not attend the Shimla meet and absented himself from the joint presser addressed by the Opposition leaders after their meeting. 

AAP was criticised by National Conference’s Omar Abdullah who reminded Kejriwal that the AAP had supported the Union government’s abrogation of Article 370. 

“If you expect other parties to support you in your hour of need, you should also learn to support other parties when they require your support,” Abdullah said. 

Leaders of some regional parties obliquely hinted at the meeting that the Congress would have to shoulder a major part of the responsibility of forging Opposition unity. And for that, it (the Congress) should adopt a flexible stand on accommodating regional parties. 

This was a broad hint to the Congress leadership that it should respect the turf of regional parties and not lay claim to seats in states where regional parties are strong. 

While the Congress leadership did not react to those hints, there can be no doubt that the Congress will not concede much ground to regional parties. 

The Congress has already said it is looking at fielding candidates from about 450 Lok Sabha seats, thus leaving the remaining 93 to other parties. 

And this is where the Opposition’s bid to forge unity will come unstuck. 

There were other sore points as well. Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said that the Opposition parties should restrain their leaders from speaking out against other Opposition parties. 

“Unity cannot be achieved if some leaders issue statements against other parties,” she said. Banerjee was referring to Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is also the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, accusing the Trinamool of being in league with the BJP. 

The body language of many Opposition leaders also provide a strong indication of the huge hurdles in the part of forging Opposition unity. 

Mamata Banerjee consciously avoided greeting CPI(M) leaders and did not make eye contact with Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi’s body language suggested nonchalance and disinterest in the proceedings. 

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav also avoided Congress leaders and was cold towards some other Opposition leaders. 

A few Rashtriya Janata Dal and JD(U) leaders were unhappy with huge posters of Akhilesh Yadav being depicted as a king that came up in many parts of Patna. 

There were other points of friction as well. Leaders of two parties requested Rahul Gandhi to make a statement in support of AAP, but the latter perfunctorily referred them to Kharge. The Congress president rebuffed them. 

At the press conference after the meeting, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made a statement: “We are united, we will fight unitedly, and please don’t call us Opposition because we are also citizens of this country”. 

According to Banerjee, these were the “three important” decisions taken at Friday’s meeting. 

The Congress offered to host the next meeting in Shimla next month. All parties agreed to it, and also to the Congress’ suggestion that it should be a two-day affair where substantive issues can be discussed. 

Nitish Kumar told Kharge that a firm agenda should be drawn up for the Shimla meeting. Kumar said that the next meeting should discuss the seat sharing formula conceived by the JD(U)-RJD combine (read this). 

But Congress leaders admitted in private that the seat-sharing formula needs elaborate discussions and will need major tweaking to address the concerns of all parties. 

The RJD suggested that small working groups be formed to discuss seat-sharing in specific states. But the Congress leadership said arriving at a broad national-level consensus on seat-sharing is necessary before discussions can begin on specific states and seats. 

All this points to the fact that there are too many differences between Opposition parties that makes it extremely difficult for them to achieve any sense of unity.  

Friday’s meeting in Patna has only served to highlight these underlying differences in thinking, outlook, ideologies and strategies of the 16 Opposition parties who are only united by their common agenda: their blind lust for power. 

Also read: Here’s What Opposition Leaders Who Will Huddle In Patna Should Realise: Their Seat-Sharing Efforts Will Not Work

Nitish Kumar’s Opposition Unity Formula Has A Little Problem—Practicality