Some life in Oppn: For first time, Left parties & Mamata on the same stage?

It doesn't bear thinking about. But Nitish Kumar may have managed the impossible feat of bringing the two together

Thirty days after he crossed sides, dumping the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as an ally and embracing the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar, Nitish Kumar was in Delhi to meet his old-new friends and revive discussion around opposition unity.
 

He set the tone for his meetings with a mandate from his own party, the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), before his Delhi trip, with what some would call extravagant predictions.
 

“If all (opposition) parties fight together, the BJP will be reduced to about 50 seats. I am devoting myself to that drive (abhiyan),” said Nitish at a meeting of the national executive of the JD(U) in Patna.
 

But his party, and he himself, must have been conscious of the fact that he hadn’t met some of the friends for several years.

His last meeting with the Congress leadership was with party chief Sonia Gandhi in April 2017, just two months before he broke ties with the RJD over corruption cases against then (and now) Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and returned to the NDA midway through the tenure of the Mahagathbandhan government, elected in 2015.
 

The initiative
 

This time, however, he was closeted with Rahul Gandhi for nearly an hour, making up for lost time. He took the opportunity to drop in at AKG Bhawan, the CPI(M) headquarters in New Delhi, where he met party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.

Emerging out of a one-hour meeting, Nitish reminisced about his association with the Left parties. Yechury’s political guru, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, had been responsible for creating a rainbow coalition of opposition parties back in 1998, resulting in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA’s) ascendance to power in 2004.
 

Yechury was quite firm when he spoke to reporters. “First, the agenda is to unite all parties, not deciding on the PM candidate. When the time comes, we will decide the PM candidate and let you all know,” he said, adding that work would begin on drafting a Common Minimum Programme (CMP) “soon”.
 

Nitish called on Mulayam Singh Yadav in hospital with Akhilesh (Yadav’s son) by his side. “Nitish Kumar is the ideal leader to bring the various political parties in India together for 2024,” Samajwadi Party Spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari told Business Standard.

“He has long-standing relationships based on mutual respect and constitutional values, with leaders across India.”

Nitish also met the architect of seemingly impossible coalitions, Sharad Pawar. After the meeting, he was gung-ho about opposition unity. “Both Pawarji and I are keen to unite opposition forces. A leader of the alliance can be decided later. It is important to come together first,” he told reporters.
 

Pawar said nothing. Interestingly, one of the most important opposition leaders, Mamata Banerjee, included Nitish in her plans to unite the opposition even though he had met the Left parties, her arch rivals, first.

“The game will start (Khela Hobe) in Bengal. Now we are all together. There’s Nitish Kumar, Akhilesh Yadav, Hemant Soren. I am there. Our friends are there. All parties are together. Their (BJP’s) arrogance of 280-300 seats will be their nemesis ... remember Rajiv Gandhi had 400 (in 1984) but that didn’t stick (in 1989),” Banerjee said at a public meeting, amid applause. (Banerjee herself was one of the defeated candidates of Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress in 1989 but she had then alleged rigging and other electoral malpractices.)
 

For the first time, Left parties and Mamata Banerjee on the same stage? It doesn’t bear thinking about. But Nitish may have managed the impossible feat of bringing the two together.
 

The ones that got away
 

Nitish’s managers tried to arrange a meeting with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders while he was in Delhi. But their paths did not cross – unsurprisingly. YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy is facing his own challenges in Andhra Pradesh. But while Reddy was in the capital at around the same time as Nitish, the two leaders did not meet. 
 

The future
 

September 25 will see a rally in Haryana, organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). The Congress has pointedly not been invited. But all the others — including Banerjee, the Left parties, and, of course, the JD(U) — will be present on the stage. Will this be a third front?
 

Nitish was clear. “If a front has to be made, it will be the main front, not the third front… An understanding between the Congress, the Left, parties with a socialist background, and others will be in the national interest. If all non-BJP parties in various states come together, then a good atmosphere will emerge in the country,” he said.
 

The question still remains of the position of the prime minister. Why is it that despite Nitish’s fervent and clear disavowals of having any claims to the position (he last said this last Monday), people don’t really believe him?
 

“Manufacturers of Fevicol should consider having (him) as their brand ambassador” because Nitish Kumar has remained glued to his chair under all circumstances, said political strategist Prashant Kishor, who is looking at joining active politics himself.
 

“Nitish Kumar has been sworn in as chief minister six times in the last one decade. He must have left the people confused as to what he stands for,” said Kishor, a former JD(U) national vice-president who was expelled following differences.
 

Those involved in drafting Common Minimum Programmes (CMPs) like Jairam Ramesh are refreshing their drafts and reviewing their files.
 

It might not be much. But there are some signs of the opposition: On the horizon as the 2024 elections beckon.