As the Winter session of Parliament draws to a close with little business having been conducted, the erstwhile united Opposition seemed to be crumbling, with chinks exposed as only the Congress met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on farmers' issues and then the Left parties stayed away from the delegation that visited President Pranab Mukherjee.
Meeting PM Modi
Electoral politics seemed to be making a comeback when leaders from only the Congress — including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Anand Sharma — visited Modi to deliver a message from farmers on their sufferings.
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The Congress has been trying to garner the support of farmers before the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, and Rahul Gandhi has even conducted a lengthy kisan yatra — farmers' rally — in the politically important state on order to build a vote bank.
The Congress, at the moment, is looking to return to power — even if it is through a coalition — in the politically important state that has sent the most number of prime ministers to power, including Modi himself. The party has not been in power in UP for 27 years now, and is thus looking to tie up with a local powerful outfit — possibly the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) — to that end.
However, there was some discontent within other Opposition parties, including the SP, because the Congress decided to talk to Prime Minister Modi on its own on the issue of farmers. These other parties could feel betrayed because they have otherwise stood by the Congress in Parliament in protest against PM Modi and his demonetisation move.
Also read: Is Congress trying to escape demonetisation debate by raising Kiren Rijiju issue in Parliament?
Meeting President Pranab Mukherjee
Then, when other Opposition parties joined the Congress to visit President Pranab Mukherjee to talk to him about Parliamentary proceedings and inform him that they wanted debate on demonetisation, the Left parties were conspicuous by their absence.
CPM leader Sitaram Yechury was later quoted by ANI as saying: "Humne pehle hi kaha tha president isme karenge bhi kya? Humara maanna tha janta ke paas jayein. [I had said earlier that the president can do nothing in this. I believe we should have gone to the public.]"
With the fault-lines visible in the erstwhile united Opposition, it is only a matter of time before the daggers come out in the open as elections come near. This difference on opinion also bolsters the argument that the Opposition parties had united in Parliament only to try to put the BJP-led Union government in a spot.
