Kharge attempts to bolster Opposition unity ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls

The Congress president's phone calls to leaders came after Oppn urged the Congress to convene a meeting of top party leaders to firm up a united front

Taking forward Opposition unity efforts in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has spoken to top leaders MK Stalin, Nitish Kumar and Uddhav Thackeray on the broad contours of such a grouping and the steps to be taken to bring in more parties into the fold.

Sources said Kharge spoke to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Stalin (DMK), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (JD-U) and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT) on Thursday and Friday.

He has also asked the three leaders about their convenience for a meeting of the joint Opposition in Delhi besides having a short discussion about the political developments in the country, sources said. Kharge would be calling other leaders soon.

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The Congress president's phone calls to the leaders came after Opposition floor leaders urged the Congress to convene a meeting of top party leaders to firm up a united front ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

While there had been differences among parties over a united front, especially over Congress' leadership role, the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha in "lightning speed" after his conviction in a defamation case has brought together at least 19 Opposition parties.

However, sources said, the parties have a broad agreement not to broach the leadership issue at this juncture. Trinamool Congress, which had not been joining the Opposition grouping on the Adani affair, too joined the larger united group following Rahul's disqualification.

Though its floor leaders Sudip Bandhyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien did not attend the Opposition meetings called by Kharge in Parliament, it had sent its MPs Prasoon Banerjee and Jawahar Sircar for meetings, protests and press conferences.

Though it attended the meetings called by Kharge, parties like AAP, Samajwadi Party and BRS also have reservations about Congress or Rahul leading the Opposition group.

Sources said there may not be a national-level front but parties would try to find a compromise in as many seats as possible. Congress also had shown flexibility with Rahul agreeing to tone down his rhetoric on VD Savarkar, after prodding from NCP supremo Sharad Pawar who highlighted Shiv Sena (UBT)'s uneasiness over the issue.

During a joint press conference of Opposition parties on Thursday, questions on leadership were raised but the leaders sidestepped it saying there is time and the party central leadership would discuss it.

Asked whether the DMK endorsed Rahul as the prime challenger to Modi, its Lok Sabha floor leader TR Baalu said the main reason for the disruptions in Parliament was the success of Rahul’s yatra and that Congress would have united front. He said Congress would soon have a meeting of Opposition party chiefs and they would decide on the next course of action.

While Baalu said the BJP is "jittery" because of the success of the Bharat Jodo and that was why it needed "Rahul's head", BRS’ K Keshava Rao said one is witnessing how Opposition unity is being evolved and that they were working on how they are going to come together.

“Why are you always obsessed with the leadership issue? The country will surely be led by a person. There is a combination of ideologies and programmes and whatever we are trying to do is to have such a programme and that we are on the same page,” Rao said.

AAP's Sanjay Singh said Modi was acting like Adani's Prime Minister and that was why he did not allow Parliament to run. "The message behind Rahul's disqualification is very clear. You can raise allegations against the Prime Minister or any minister. You can have discussions on Adani's servants. But you cannot have a debate on the master," he said.