Nine states to win: Will Oppn wake up now?

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: Was the lack of opposition unity the main reason why parties like the Congress and Aam Admi Party (AAP) could not make a decisive impact in the Gujarat Assembly polls for which the results were declared on December 8? And if this is the state of opposition ‘achievement’ (17 Congress and 5 AAP seats in a 182 member Assembly), is the scenario in the nine states going to polls next year going to be any different?

The figures paint a sorry picture-the BJP ran away with 52% of the popular vote in Gujarat while the Congress and AAP lagged far behind with 27 and 17% respectively. Would the seat tally have been different for the opposition parties if they had managed to strike an alliance (overt or covert) and stopped the saffron juggernaut from demolishing them?

The Congress more than AAP, has a lot of ruminating to do for it had won a solid 77 seats in 2017 despite PM Modi’s shadow over the polls. It has now lost a full 60 seats of the 77 and the reason is not hard to find; the AAP spoilt its chances in as many as 33 seats, says veteran leader P. Chidambaram.

Smaller parties joining hands against the bigger enemy-in this case the BJP-is a common feature in Indian politics and the opposition fiasco in Gujarat proves that this is a poll spectacle waiting to unfold in the nine states except in Telangana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where the BJP is in the opposition.

In fact a state-wise firming up of pacts under the able guidance of national opposition leaders-there are enough of them who would be willing to lend a helping hand- would be the sensible approach to stop the BJP at the gates. Most of these states have seen BJP rule for five years and are sure to witness strong anti-incumbency considering that governance has been anything but spectacular.

It may not be the AAP in states like MP that an antiBJP front will have to rope in; there are others like the BSP and SP which have a reasonable presence in these states and should not be allowed to split votes in Assembly constituencies where the margin of victory could be in hundreds or a few thousands.

And in the North-East in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura, there are small parties espousing the state’s cause which would be more than willing to break with the saffronists to tie up with the opposition provided they feel they stand a fighting chance of winning at the hustings.

The only exception is Karnataka where a united Congress stands a chance of pipping the BJP at the hustings without looking for support elsewhere. The moves for opposition unity will have to be firmed up now for the ‘poll of all polls’ will be here sooner than later-the 2024 parliament elections.