INDIA sets ball rolling for LS polls

A Six months after it was formed at a meet in Bengaluru in July last year, the INDIA formation of Opposition parties has decided on its chairperson - veteran Congress leader and party president Mallikarjun Kharge.

This decision came amid reports that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had rejected the post of convenor of the alliance contending that a team of party chiefs should be appointed instead.

There have been hiccups right from the start when the opposition alliance was formed but they are natural when parties with differing ideologies and leaders who have often fought each other fiercely, come together with the avowed objective of defeating the ruling alliance.

And there are enough reasons for the opposition parties to join hands for the past few months have seen the ruling front upping the pressure on opposition leaders like never before.

Many top guns of the AAP, one of the main constituents of INDIA, which is in power in two states, are behind bars with those in power fearful that the party led by Arvind Kejriwal could pose a formidable threat to them in the years to come.

There have been enough attempts by central agencies to target opposition leaders for whatever reason it may be - many are being summoned by the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI in money laundering cases and the like; Opposition leaders feel that such pressure tactics will only increase in the days and months to come and unless those in power feel that there is a strong enough alternative force to oppose them, the heat on the opposition will only increase.

The appointment of a chairperson is no doubt a silver lining for all those who are looking forward to INDIA emerging as a real alternative to the BJP –led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) in future.

But there are many, many miles to go before the opposition can pose a fighting challenge to the ruling party and the first essential no doubt is steel-like unity.

That sadly has not been visible at all in the past few months with parties like Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and the Congress wrangling over seat sharing in West Bengal; the AAP and Congress have not been able to reach any kind of agreement in states like Delhi or Punjab nor has the grand old party been able to amicably resolve seat sharing with the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh or the RJDJD(U) alliance in Bihar.

For any political alliance to be successful, what is most needed is an attitude of ‘give and take’ and there is no sign of such an approach so far among the constituent parties of INDIA.

The trust quotient also seems to be sadly lacking among the many parties which constitute INDIA with some alleging that a few outfits are ‘running with the hare and hunting with the hound,’ hinting that they are not averse to joining hands with the BJP if the situation demands it.

Such suspicions and discord will have to be cast aside and a well-knit alliance which citizens can look forward to as a viable option, will have to put together swiftly for the crucial Lok Sabha polls are less than a hundred days away.

A single, powerful candidate will have to be chosen for each parliament constituency who has the unstinted backing of all opposition parties concerned; a joint campaign will have to be planned and a well-oiled poll strategy will have to be set rolling so that India can look forward to a trustworthy alternative from the INDIA formation.

And most of all, senior leaders heading the alliance will have to put aside their differences and sacrifice their personal aims for the greater goals of democracy, liberty, tolerance and secularism.