It took seven months, from September 2022 to March 2023, for Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to respond to and accept Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Lalu Prasad Yadav’s proposal to join a united opposition front. They also accepted the formula of “one against one” devised by Nitish. This means a bipolar fight on 450 Lok Sabha constituencies in 2024, as the Janata Dal (United leader) strategised, News18 has learnt. However, a mega opposition meeting, which was scheduled to take place in Patna on June 12, now stands postponed.

Senior leaders of hosts JD(U) and RJD said that the event was deferred due to Rahul Gandhi and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief MK Stalin’s “unavailability” and a new date is being worked out.

Date dithering

After the Gandhis agreed in March, Nitish travelled to states to meet senior opposition leaders and brought all “apparent non-agreeables”, like Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress (TMC), Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party (SP), K Chandrashekar Rao of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), and Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), to the table and convinced them about the idea of including the Congress in the opposition coalition to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in next year’s general elections.

However, days after the date for the mega opposition meeting was decided and the venue was fixed, the Congress and DMK leaders communicated about their prior commitments.

Even though there is no clarity on the fresh date as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s trip to the US is likely to be extended, top sources in the party said the meeting could now be held on June 23. The venue remains unchanged, they added.

Nitish, who made all arrangements for the meeting, campaigned in Bihar and across states and planned the gathering, is said to be livid following the developments as opposition leaders are now working on a new date with Gandhi’s confirmation.

‘Bear with it’

The victory of the Congress in the recent Karnataka elections may be detrimental to the opposition’s unity as this win brings arrogance back into the grand old party, said a senior leader of the Trinamool Congress.

“Mamata Banerjee has agreed to the idea of a bipolar fight in every constituency, and she has been suggesting this for long. Didi’s formula to fight the BJP has always been this. She said that let Congress and other parties allow the stronger regional party to contest on its turf and other parties should refrain from contesting there. But senior Congress leaders have been issuing statements against Trinamool’s political activities in Bengal. This should stop,” a senior Trinamool leader told News18.

Other senior opposition leaders share the concern. “The Congress should decide if it wants to be revivalist or survivalist. They at times think that they need to kill all the socialist parties and regional forces to revive themselves. They should first decide what they want: revive or survive,” said a senior JD(U) leader. “We have convinced Mamata Didi and Arvind Kejriwal to come on board with the Congress. However, there are two to three senior Congress members who every day issue statements against these parties. What messages do they want to convey?” said an opposition leader.

However, the leaders also admit that without the Congress, which is ruling in seven states—either by itself or in an alliance—an opposition coalition is not possible. So, they say, all parties have to “bear with it”.