‘No part of non-NDA opposition is divided’ | India News – Rashtra News : Rashtra News
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Amid dissonance in opposition ranks over the shape of the anti-BJP alliance and demands that it be expanded beyond the UPA — views treated sceptically by Congress — party MP and well-known lawyer Abhishek Singhvi tells Subodh Ghildiyal that he agrees that all non-NDA parties should be brought together like the NCP-Shiv Sena-Congress alliance. Excerpts from the interview:
Now, even NCP chief Sharad Pawar is echoing Trinamool Congress’s line that UPA is restrictive and all the non-NDA parties should be brought together. What are your views?
I cannot agree more with Sharadji’s statement that it is the bounden duty of each one of the non-NDA constituents to get what he calls the non-NDA, non-UPA elements together, as fast as possible. In fact, Congress and Pawar are the best example of the successful implementation of this very thought in India’s commercially most important state Maharashtra, where doomsayers and naysayers had not given the tripartite coalition a hope in hell.
There is absolutely no reason why the Maharashtra model cannot and should not be successfully replicated, be it qua Telangana or Andhra Pradesh or Odisha or for that matter J&K.
Trinamool Congress’s attacks on Congress are a serious setback to attempts to create a united opposition against BJP. How did it come to such a pass after a joint vow of unity in August?
Not only is opposition unity the need of the hour but it will, and shall, happen for 2024. No one should be misled by early skirmishes which may be limited to local elections or on account of regional considerations. On basics, virtually no part of the non-NDA opposition is divided. I think that extra bit of effort is needed by each and every non-NDA stakeholder, and you will see it happening from mid-2022 onwards in a more focused manner and at a rapid pace.
But how is the unity possible when Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has declared an intent to supplant Congress?
I disagree that there is an attempt to supplant Congress. In any event, an entity like Congress, which lives in the hearts and minds of people across states, cannot be supplanted, nor can an entity which in 10 states is the main opposition and ruling in three, be ignored or wished away.
Aren’t these views rooted more in optimism than reality?
Its not optimism or starry-eyed wishful thinking. It’s the hard logic, the full recognition by all non-NDA forces that Modi’s BJP succeeds only because of repetitive division within the 62% anti-NDA vote.
There appears an aversion to Congress. Even Samajwadi Party has cold shouldered Congress in UP?
I am sad at the non-emergence of a consensus between Congress and SP in UP. The need of the hour is for such consensus. I still have hope. Obviously, politics recognises no vacuum. So in case such convergence becomes impossible, we will have to practice ‘ekla chalo’, though that should be the last option.
Now, even NCP chief Sharad Pawar is echoing Trinamool Congress’s line that UPA is restrictive and all the non-NDA parties should be brought together. What are your views?
I cannot agree more with Sharadji’s statement that it is the bounden duty of each one of the non-NDA constituents to get what he calls the non-NDA, non-UPA elements together, as fast as possible. In fact, Congress and Pawar are the best example of the successful implementation of this very thought in India’s commercially most important state Maharashtra, where doomsayers and naysayers had not given the tripartite coalition a hope in hell.
There is absolutely no reason why the Maharashtra model cannot and should not be successfully replicated, be it qua Telangana or Andhra Pradesh or Odisha or for that matter J&K.
Trinamool Congress’s attacks on Congress are a serious setback to attempts to create a united opposition against BJP. How did it come to such a pass after a joint vow of unity in August?
Not only is opposition unity the need of the hour but it will, and shall, happen for 2024. No one should be misled by early skirmishes which may be limited to local elections or on account of regional considerations. On basics, virtually no part of the non-NDA opposition is divided. I think that extra bit of effort is needed by each and every non-NDA stakeholder, and you will see it happening from mid-2022 onwards in a more focused manner and at a rapid pace.
But how is the unity possible when Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has declared an intent to supplant Congress?
I disagree that there is an attempt to supplant Congress. In any event, an entity like Congress, which lives in the hearts and minds of people across states, cannot be supplanted, nor can an entity which in 10 states is the main opposition and ruling in three, be ignored or wished away.
Aren’t these views rooted more in optimism than reality?
Its not optimism or starry-eyed wishful thinking. It’s the hard logic, the full recognition by all non-NDA forces that Modi’s BJP succeeds only because of repetitive division within the 62% anti-NDA vote.
There appears an aversion to Congress. Even Samajwadi Party has cold shouldered Congress in UP?
I am sad at the non-emergence of a consensus between Congress and SP in UP. The need of the hour is for such consensus. I still have hope. Obviously, politics recognises no vacuum. So in case such convergence becomes impossible, we will have to practice ‘ekla chalo’, though that should be the last option.
( News Source :Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Rashtra News staff and is published from a timesofindia.indiatimes.com feed.)