For Nitish, opposition meeting a great morale booster

PATNA: The jury is out on the outcome of Friday's meeting of non-BJP parties in Patna, aimed at forging a united front to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
But the event itself is being considered as a moral victory of sorts for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has been spearheading the campaign to bring together the maximum number of non-BJP parties ever since dumping the NDA and forming the Grand Alliance government in Bihar in August last year. The role played by veteran leader Lalu Prasad in bringing the opposition leaders together can't be ignored either.
The move to create a consensus on 'one-against-one' fight against BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls may sound utopian at this stage, but credit goes to Nitish for bringing on the discussion table the Congress top leadership, who ultimately may not agree to the general demand of regional satraps to give them an upper hand in fielding candidates. That will reduce the Congress's strike rate and chances of leading the pack, electorally and politically.That Congress will have to either play second fiddle or contest against strong regional parties in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Maharashtra and the southern states for survival in national politics may ultimately prove to be the biggest roadblock in opposition unity bid, even if they, for the time being, brush under the carpet the issue of PM face against Modi.
Since the June 23 meeting will be the first of its kind for opposition unity, very little of electoral significance is likely to be achieved as leaders of different political parties with larger stakes in their respective states will need to meet at frequent intervals just to churn out a somewhat elusive common minimum programme, as reiterated by NCP stalwart Sharad Pawar and JD(U) chief spokesman K C Tyagi.
Poll strategist and now political activist, Prashant Kishor's statement that the opposition parties' meeting will not bear fruits, cannot be rubbished outright as he understands the thought process and working style of many politicians like Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal and even those from south India.
But the move will be keenly watched by the BJP because if the opposition parties even partially succeed in forging an alliance in north India, minus Congress in some states, it will create problems in the elections generally dominated on caste lines.