Will the regional parties come together and form a party that will be a competition for both Congress and BJP?
At least that is what West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR) have in mind.
On Monday, Mamta Banerjee and KCR had met in Kolkata, where the leaders later said the meeting had initiated the process of forming a ‘federal front’ for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
While Mr. Rao was clear that the ‘front’ would be a platform of non-Bharatiya Janata Party and non-Congress parties, Ms. Banerjee avoided a direct answer to the question and remained non-committal about leaving the Congress out. They did not give the name of the front.
Emphasising the need for an “alternative agenda, an alternative development and an alternative political force” in the country, the Chief Minister of Telangana said the “routine kind of administration” as performed by both the Congress and the BJP had not worked well for the country.
Preliminary meeting
“We are trying to bring in a real federal front for the country. This will be a like-minded group of political leaders. Today is just the beginning. Most of the things, we will make clear when other leaders sit together and discuss,” Mr. Rao said after the meeting with Ms. Banerjee, which lasted around two hours.
Describing the meeting as a “good beginning”, the West Bengal Chief Minister said that there is a need for the Federal Front because “if the States are strong, the nation will be strong.”
“We have started the dialogue. Let us approach other political parties,” Ms Bnerjee said, adding that sometimes situations arise in politics where many political parties have to come together.
She, however, said that there is “no hurry” and such bigger political initiatives require time.
On BJP, Congress
Referring to the BJP, Ms Banerjee said the political party which rules the country “must not feel proud” and think that “they will rule the country as they feel like”. Asked about the Congress seeking cooperation of all like-minded parties to take on the BJP, Ms Banerjee said all parties are entitled to have their own opinion.
“Whatever Mr Rao ( K. Chandrasekhar Rao) has said I fully agree with. He has expressed his views, what is the harm? Rahul also expressed his views yesterday. He never asked us. So, they can say their views and we can say our views,” she added.
On the question of who would lead the proposed Front. Mr. Rao said it would be a “collective and federal leadership”.
“Leaders always emerge from out of situations…. The nation has to change, it has to take a big jump,” he said.
Asked whether the two Chief Ministers have reached a consensus on whether the Congress could be part of it, KCR said: “We have to change the routine. Our agenda is the development of the people. Please do not interpret things but you know that for the past 71 years, what has been happening in the country? Do you want the same thing to continue? The country needs a miracle”.
Since late last year, Ms Banerjee has led the initiative to build support for a common front against the BJP. She has been in touch with Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and MK Stalin, the leader of opposition in Tamil Nadu.
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Ms Banerjee also had discussions with former Congress chief and Rahul Gandhi’s mother Sonia Gandhi, with whom she shares a warm rapport. But her relation with her son Rahul Gandhi has been marked by coolness. There has been little interaction between the two leaders. When Mr Gandhi took charge of the Congress from his mother in December, no word of congratulation came from Kolkata.
Later this month, she is expected to meet the new Congress chief.
Regardless of the outcome of her chat with Rahul Gandhi, her party leaders have not ruled out a Congress role in a federal front. Senior Trinamool leader Derek O’Brien told NDTV that there are at least six states, including Karnataka, where the Congress is expected to beat the BJP.
Following the recent BJP defeats to Congress in the Rajasthan and the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections, the activity in the opposition camp has shot up. Last week, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar met Rahul Gandhi; a meeting with Ms Banerjee is expected later this month. On March 14, the day the results of Uttar Pradesh by-polls came in, Sonia Gandhi had hosted a dinner with leaders of 19 opposition parties to put in place a strategy for parliament.
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