Fickle friendship

Dilemma in the Congress over ordinance against Kejriwal government; opposition unity hurt

- SONI MISHRA

When Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on April 11 to discuss issues related to opposition unity, Rahul told Nitish about the challenges in joining hands with certain parties.

At the meeting —which was seen as the first major effort to unite the opposition parties before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024—Nitish proposed state-level alliances to minimise the splitting of anti-BJP votes. Rahul told him that while the Congress was, in principle, willing to make sacrifices for the sake of opposition unity, it might be difficult to convince certain state units.

Now, as senior leaders of around 20 opposition parties are about to meet in Patna on June 23, Rahul's apprehensions have been proved right. The Centre's ordinance that seeks to neutralise the Supreme Court's order giving control of services in Delhi to the state government has come up as the first big test of opposition unity. The Congress units in Delhi and Punjab are against offering support to the Aam Aadmi Party over the ordinance. The AAP has reached out to various opposition parties, including the Congress, for voting against the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha. But the stand of its Delhi and Punjab units has put the Congress high command in a tight spot and has cast a shadow on the idea of opposition unity.

After indicating that the Congress would oppose the ordinance in Parliament, there was a quick rethink and the central leadership clarified that the party would consult its state units. Whether Kharge and Rahul would accede to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's request to meet him to discuss the ordinance is also being keenly watched.