Congress next task is to sustain opposition unity outside Parliament

As the budget session concluded on Thursday, the Congress leadership now faces the task of activating its outreach and networking among the 'like-minded' Opposition parties to try and forge the unity, which saw over 16 of them uniting on the floors of both Houses, outside Parliament and take it to the masses.

On March 27, floor leaders of these parties had converged at a dinner meeting hosted by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and urged him to convene a meeting of top leaders after the session and explore how their unity inside Parliament, mostly on the issue of seeking JPC probe into the Adani issue and against the actions of central agencies against Opposition leaders, could be extended outside Parliament too.

It is learnt that the Congress leadership has set the ball in motion. After DMK chief MK Stalin got the support of Congress and many Opposition parties to participate at the 'social justice plank' he hosted in Chennai recently, Kharge has taken him into confidence about Congress plan to convene a meeting. Another ally, NCP, has been not on the same page with Congress on the Adani issue. Congress has also strained ties with Shiv Sena (U) over Rahul's remarks on Savarkar. Congress may have to show flexibility to accommodate allies on their points of differences.


Political circles feel Congress' real test will be in wooing Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool, K Chandrashekar Rao-led BRS, Akhilesh Yadav-led SP as these parties are toying with the idea of a regional front.

The real task will be to sustain the unity as many of these regional parties and Congress are turf rivals in several states. The pitch for larger unity also makes some to demand electoral accommodation. For example, the Left parties recently approached Kharge and unsuccessfully demanded that Karnataka Congress shell out some seats for CPI-M and CPI in elections.

"The Congress leadership should have accommodated the Left parties in some seats in the Karnataka assembly elections because that would have been a forward movement towards Opposition unity would have enhanced Congress' standing," argued CPI general secretary D Raja.