It seems incongruous for the Congress to seek opposition
unity at the national level and shun it at the local level
(Goa). An attempt by the party to bring all political parties
in the opposition on one platform to take a strong stand
against demonetization has come unstuck with most likely to
stay away from Tuesday’s joint press conference. Only Mamata
Banerjee of the TMC and the DMK are likely to attend with
the rest abstaining on one pretext or the other. The opposition
is miffed with the Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for
meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the last day of the
winter session. One leader of repute in the opposition is Bihar
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and he has backed Modi on
demonetization. With Kumar out of the way it fell on the Congress
to lead and Gandhi provided that leadership on the specific
issue of demonetization. However, opposition unity is a
complicated issue with political parties also keeping an eye on
the next Lok Sabha poll. However, regional parties must also
realise that without the Congress the chance of overthrowing
the BJP in 2019 is a piped dream.
