Unity remains elusive for Opposition

Opposition parties seem to have jumped into the battlefield, knowing full well that they do not have the required number of soldiers to win the war. Presidential election is purely a game of numbers and the BJP is just short of 16,000 votes. Though it was interesting to see about 17 leaders of different parties come together, yet again the problem with this group is that none of them can agree to remain united.

Differences were clearly visible as none of the Chief Ministers of the regional parties attended. They only sent their representatives. Among those who attended the meeting, there were a good number of them who aspire to be Prime Ministers. Even if they arrive at a consensus on the name of opposition candidate, it is difficult to keep the flock united as none of them wants to give space to others.

Even after two hours of discussions on the day when the notification for Presidential election has been issued, they could not come up with possible names. All that they decided was to constitute a selection committee and hunt for the candidate. Political parties like TRS, AAP and Biju Janata Dal skipped the meeting. Apparently, they want to wait and watch as to who the official BJP candidate would be. This being the situation, how can they fight the BJP against the alleged misuse of central investigative agencies and "bulldozing" attitude of the Modi-led government in the country?

It has become a pattern in the Indian politics that any party in opposition will blame the ruling party of misusing institutions like CBI and ED. But when they come to power, they, too, resort to same tactics. No one is a holy cow regarding this issue.

The group of leaders led by Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hoped to make some dent, provided the Maratha leader Sharad Pawar agreed to be the consensus opposition candidate. But Pawar who never lost any election refused saying that he does not want to fight a losing battle. Being a veteran politician, he did not want to face such a situation at the fag-end of his political career. Indeed, it is a wise decision he had taken. The other probable name making rounds is that of Gopala Krishna Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. But he, too, does not seem to be so keen to contest.

Now the question is why TRS, AAP and Biju Janata Dal skipped the meeting. Why do they want to keep their options open? Speculations in the political circles are that what if BJP decides to field M Venkaiah Naidu saying Ab Ki Bar South India. Can TRS or BJD oppose Telugu Bidda? Similarly, what if BJP decides to field an ST candidate since so far, no ST had risen to the post of President of India? Not just TRS, even AAP or Biju Janata Dal, or for that matter any other opposition party, will not oppose an ST candidate.

Those who skipped the meeting want to wait and watch before taking a final decision. Sounds sensible.