From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The opposition parties joining hands to oust the Modi government in the 2024 general elections becomes sharper as the loss in Karnataka on Saturday makes this trend become even starker.
While the BJP may continue to rule in New Delhi with an iron fist, it now controls only a minority of India’s population in the form of the state governments. It is completely absent from the southern states, underscoring the stereotype of the BJP as a north Indian party.
India has 30 Assemblies, including two Union Territories with legislature. After the Karnataka defeat, the BJP is reduced to be in power only in half these: 15. Using 2011 Census figures, only 45% of India’s population is ruled by a BJP government.
Two major states in this – Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra – have BJP government not because the party won elections but due defections it engineered to pull down governments. The BJP was able do this since it controlled the Centre. Without these states, the BJP’s share would have dropped below 30%.
Even in north India, the BJP is no longer there in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh as also in Jammu and Kashmir whenever the Assembly elections are held there. The BJP is also not there in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh as also in eastern India as it is not there in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand or Odisha.
Its number is thus shrinking fast, faring poorly in the states. It’s this scenario where the oppositon parties coming together on the initiative of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, with Maratha leader Sharad Pawar taking the command, pulling India out of Narendra Modi’s control in the Lok Sabha elections.
Some leaders like Mamata Bannerji and Naveen Patnaik have expressed their reservations over the Congress heading the proposed opposition combine and so Nitish is pressing for Pawar (82) to lead the combination as he is also the seniormost age wise.
He has also sensed that many parties are not prepared to have Rahul Gandhi as the leader since they find him not mature and not able to solve even the internal problems of the Congress like one faced by it in Rajasthan with the ongoing fight between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and dissident leader Sachin Pilot.
If Sharad Pawar wriggles out from taking the responsibility to head the opposition unity, another senior leader who may be proposed by Nitish Kumar is Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge (80). Nitish has own ambitions alike many leaders, but he admits his party’s spread is limited and for that matter even Sharad Pawar’s NCP is confined to just Maharashtra.
Kharge’s projection as the combination leader is felt positive since the Congress has its strength in almost every state of the country and he is amenable to the suggestions that the Congress should leave the seats for other parties who may be in a position to win. His selection will also remove the reservations among the parties about the Gandhi family.
