Cong gets a shot in the arm with TDP’s rebellion
NEW DELHI:
The decision of two Telugu Desam Party (TDP) ministers to quit the Narendra Modi government has given fresh fodder to the Congress to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
On Thursday, just hours after Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu announced that two of his party’s ministers would depart from the central government, the Congress was quick to accuse the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “autocratic style of functioning” to drive home its point that all is not well in the NDA — to suggest that the group was “disintegrating”.
“A parochial autocratic alliance led by the Prime Minister could never accept the divergence of opinion or plurality which is the essence of India’s foundational values,” Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said. “The splintering of the NDA is only a reflection of that philosophy of the Prime Minister and the BJP. It doesn’t start or end here,”
He added as the main opposition party also alluded to the growing differences between allies Shiv Sena and BJP.
The party also targeted Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar whose Janata Dal (United)’s alliance with the BJP, it claimed, “was on the verge of collapse”.
“This talaq, remarriage and now possible talaq again has to be explained by Nitish Kumar himself,” Surjewala said, while seeking traction for its claim by pointing out Odisha’s ruling party Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) decision to snap ties with the BJP in 2009.
While the NDA appears to be in disarray, the Congress is trying to expand the much-truncated United Progressive Alliance (UPA) by bringing all the non-NDA political parties on a single platform and prepare a joint strategy not only for Parliament but for the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
So far, as many as 17 Opposition parties, including the bitter West Bengal rivals Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Left, have on various occasions come together to attack the NDA government on several issues.
The unity inside and outside Parliament on the defrauding of the PNB and the escape of accused jeweller Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi have further energised the Opposition camp. As part of the strategy, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has called a dinner-meeting of the Opposition parties at her residence on March 13. Perhaps Gandhi’s move was prompted by the BJP’s stunning performance in Tripura and its ability to stitch alliances in Meghalaya and Nagaland despite being a small player in the two states.
› A parochial autocratic alliance led by the Prime Minister could never accept the divergence of opinion or plurality which is the essence of India’s foundational values
RANDEEP SINGH SURJEWALA, Congress spokesperson