Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 24: In a step forward for an opposition unity against the BJP in the 2024 Parliamentary elections, the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, along with his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday with both agreeing to work for one-to-one contest for the ouster of the saffron party from power.
Banerjee, after the meeting with Nitish Kumar and Yadav said that there was “no ego clash” regarding a grand alliance of anti-BJP parties and that it’s going to be the people vs BJP in next year’s general elections. She claimed she has earlier too said that she had no objection to all like-minded Opposition parties getting together for the big electoral battle.
Both Banerjee and Kumar stressed on the need for Opposition parties to unite against the BJP. At a press conference at the state government headquarters in Nabanna afterwards, Banerjee said, “Opposition parties will sit together and decide the next course of action. If our vision and mission is clear, nothing will be able to stop us.”
“I have made just one request to Nitish Kumar. Jayaprakash (Narayan) ji’s movement started from Bihar. If we have an all-party meeting in Bihar, we can then decide where we have to go next. But first, we have to give a message that we are united. I have said earlier, too, that I have no objections. I have always reiterated that BJP should be brought to zero. They have become huge heroes with the help of media, and the fake narratives that they push day-in, day out. All they indulge is in jumlas and goondaism,” she said while addressing the media with the two top Bihar leaders by her side.
On the proposed one-seat-one-candidate formula floated by Nitish Kumar’s party, she said that “if thought, vision, and mission are clear, there will be no issues.” Calling it a “very positive discussion”, Nitish Kumar said they discussed making all preparations ahead of the upcoming elections. “Those who are ruling now, have nothing to do. They are just doing their own publicity. Nothing is being done for the nation’s development,” he said.
On a mission to bring together opposition parties who have no love lost for Congress, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier today reached the West Bengal state secretariat in Kolkata to meet Ms Banerjee in his push to forge a grand alliance against the BJP. Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav are later scheduled to fly to Lucknow to meet Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Both Trinamool Congress and SP have not been keen on sharing space with the grand old party.
Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear that he has no interest in a front that includes the Congress — attending a few meetings with like-minded opposition parties, including Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. He had not pulled punches either after crashing in the 2017 polls, which he contested in alliance with the Congress. Mamata Banerjee hasn’t held back from attacking Congress either, especially since the party snatched an assembly seat from her party in the recent by-elections in the state.
Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP recently precipitated a rare show of unity across Opposition parties, after which efforts to unite against the BJP picked pace with the meeting between Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. Nitish Kumar has also met with Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party boss Arvind Kejriwal, one of the harshest critics of Congress, who conceded that it was “extremely necessary” that the entire opposition and the country came together and change the government at the Centre.
Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) has proposed what they call the “Nitish formula” of opposition unity, sources say. “The only way to win against Narendra Modi is to follow a one-against-one policy in 2024, which means one seat, one candidate from the opposition against the BJP candidate,” said senior Janata Dal-United leader KC Tyagi.
The one-against-one formula to prevent a split in the opposition vote, which worked in 1977 and 1989, is being seen as a potent weapon against the BJP and Modi’s election juggernaut, though some say there’s not much confidence that the rival opposition parties can agree on a truce.
“A message should go out that the Opposition is together. After that, we can decide on the manifesto and other details… We are in touch with all other Opposition parties and there is no ego clash,” Banerjee said. She also praised the work done by Nitish and Tejashwi in Bihar, and said she had a “fruitful discussion on developmental and political matters” with them.
Nitish too said they had a “fruitful discussion”, and praised Banerjee. “I have had a long-standing relationship with Didi. Today, when I came here, I was amazed to see the progress that Kolkata has made. The kind of development that the state government has brought to Bengal is commendable. We held a political discussion with Didi, where we decided that all political parties should unite and fight against the BJP together. We will have more such discussions, and decide on the future course of action,” he said.
Targeting the BJP government at the Centre, he added, “Whatever we decide should be for the benefit of our nation. Currently, the party that is governing our country has no care about development. All they care about is politics and politics alone, while the country’s development has taken a back seat. You see the kind of development that Kolkata and Bengal has made? Has all this been done by Delhi? It is all the Bengal government’s handiwork. If you look at the history of our nation, those who didn’t take part in our freedom struggle are today hell-bent on changing its history.”
Banerjee also took aim at the BJP, and reiterated that the party must be defeated. She said, “I have always said that BJP should be brought down to zero. We all want to work together collectively, and this is the message that we are sending out today.”
The BJP immediately launched a counter attack on all the opposition parties calling the move an “alliance of the corrupt.” Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP said, “Corruption United Front has formed. Chairman Mamata Banerjee and convener Arvind Kejriwal. This alliance is a half-hearted alliance. It has no direction.”
BJP’s co-incharge for West Bengal, Amit Malviya, said, “It is ironic that Mamata Banerjee, who once called Nitish Kumar “gaddar (traitor)” in a rally in Patna for not backing her campaign against demonetisation, is today speaking about Opposition unity. It tells you a lot about both Mamata and Nitish’s politics of opportunism. She should worry about losing ground in Bengal. Last time the BJP won 18 Lok Sabha seats and that number this time will be 35. The less said about Nitish Kumar the better. With 40-odd MLAs, he managed to remain Bihar CM because the BJP chose to honour its commitment, only to be backstabbed later. People of Bihar and West Bengal will respond at the hustings.”
Banerjee had also met Akhilesh Yadav at her residence in Kolkata last month. At the time, both leaders had said their parties would contest the 2024 general election on their own, and would not align with the Congress. The West Bengal CM also had a meeting with her Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik earlier this month. Nitish has also been working towards Opposition unity against the BJP. Recently, he met with Congress’s top leadership, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior Rahul Gandhi.