Opposition plan for new front in 2019 LS polls takes a hit
Plans to replicate ‘Bihar model’ at national level hit POLITICAL REALIGNMENT Nitish Kumar’s decision to quit came hours after RJD chief Lalu Prasad ruled out resignation of his son and deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav
NEW DELHI: Nitish Kumar’ s decision to re sign as chief minister on Wednesday dealt a blow to the Congress and the opposition parties that have been trying to cobble together a“Bi ha r-type” mahagathbandhan, or Grand Alliance, ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“A premise has come to exist that the BJP will win the 2019 elections as well. This is attracting fence sitters and leaders of smaller regional parties. The grand alliance idea at the national level is in complete disarray,” said political scientist CP Bhambri.
Wednesday’s developments indicate that individual political ambitions are difficult to contain in a front based on ideology, and that “anti-BJPism”, a phenomenon that marked the politics of the 1990s, has now lost appeal.
NEW DELHI: Nitish Kumar’ s decision to re sign as chief minister on Wednesday dealt a blow to the Congress and the opposition parties that have been trying to cobble up a“Bih ar-type” ma ha ga thband han, or Grand Alliance, ahead of the 2019 general polls.
Kumar’s exit from a coalition with RJD’s Lalu Prasad and the Congress underscores the challenges of such pacts, where once rival regional parties attempt joining hands, often as secular coalitions, to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“A premise has come to exist that the BJP will win the 2019 elections as well. This is attracting fence sitters and leaders of smaller regional parties. The grand alliance idea at the national level is in complete disarray,” said political scientist CP Bhambri.
Wednesday’s developments indicate that individual political ambitions are difficult to contain in a front based on ideology, and that “anti-BJPism”, a phenomenon that marked the politics of 1990s, has now lost appeal.
Bihar’s Grand Alliance successfully obstructed the march of theNarendraModi-poweredBJP in the November 2015 assembly elections, raising expectations that the “Bihar model” could be replicated at the national level where the dominance of Modi’s BJP has been overwhelming.
The visions were such that Kumar was touted as the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, a race that he virtually opted out of on Wednesday.
Riding on his “victimhood” status, Prasad is likely to try to rustle together a fresh secular combination with the possible support of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party and Jiten Ram Manjhi’ s Hindustan Aw am Mo rch a( HAM ).
If Kumar’ s Jan at aD al( United) splits on the question of Kumar’s dalliance with the BJP, Prasad might take a shot at installing an R JD government in the state. But the pressure seems to be on the R JD and the Congress to keep the flock together.
A conclave of Opposition leaders willis set for a rally convened by Prasad at Patna’s historic Gandhi Maid an next month. Trina moo lC on gr es sc hie fM amata B an erjee,S am ajwadiP art y president Akhil es hY ada van dB SP supremo Mayawati are among the likely participants. It is possible that the trajectory of Opposition politics for the future will get defined after the mega event.
But for the moment, prospects of a “secular alternative” at the national level appear dim.