Amid talk of Opposition unity, veteran leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the Congress and floated a separate party last September, said Tuesday that a pre-election Opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha was not “going to happen”. He also took a jibe at the Congress for asking its senior leaders, including Chief Ministers, to travel to Surat for Rahul Gandhi’s court appearance. Speaking to The Indian Express ahead of the release of his autobiography Azaad, the former Congress veteran said “nothing has changed” in the party and that it can expect good results only in states where it has strong leaders. The Congress central leadership, he said, cannot claim that the party is winning or losing any state because of them. “The central leadership has no impact on any seat. They cannot make anybody lose or win. It depends on how strong your state leadership is,” he said. Asked whether he has thought of playing a role in bringing the Opposition parties together since he has good relations with many senior Opposition leaders, he said, “I don’t think anybody now is nurturing national ambitions. Maybe at some point of time, some leaders had national ambitions. Everybody now thinks chew as much as you can digest. So, to be a national party in a huge country like ours, to have access to every region, even if they come together, to have access in every corner of the country is very difficult.” On Opposition unity in elections, he said, “It is not going to happen, that is my view as a political worker.” “That is my assessment. Though I wish the Opposition was united… but knowing almost every political party and its leaders like the back of my hand – over the last 40-50 years, I have worked with almost all of them in different capacities, with whom I had stitched most of the alliances – I can say that every political party is happy in their respective states. Each regional party thinks that if they go beyond their jurisdiction, they will lose, or somebody else will come in their place in their absence. So they lose time.” Asked whether that meant there will not be a united challenge to the BJP in 2024, he said the challenge can be post elections depending on the numbers. “There have been challenges. We have seen… if there is a will and if there are numbers… we have seen in 1991 and 2004. Even Atalji (Bihari Vajpayee) in 1998 and 1999, we have seen people getting together post elections. The Congress has done it twice… Atalji has done it twice… Even Modiji had an alliance, though he did not require it… he too has some allies. The difference is pre-poll alliance or post-poll alliance,” he said. “And people don’t analyse one thing. that there is nothing one party can add to another party. Take the case of West Bengal, if there is an alliance, what does the Congress have in Bengal? Zero seats. So how can the Congress benefit the TMC? Why should she (Mamata Banerjee) give up 5 or 10 seats to the Congress out of the 42 seats? There has to be reciprocal symbiosis. In alliance, I should be able to pass on some votes… you should be able to pass on some votes in his or her state. That is not possible. Even there are states where parties have lost because of the Congress,” he said. In his book, Azad had some words of praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Asked whether there was any possibility of his Democratic Progressive Azad Party joining hands with the BJP whenever elections are announced, he said, “I don’t think that in the Valley I am going to join hands with any political party.” On the possibility of a post-poll arrangement, he said, “Post. nobody knows. One does not know what will happen after death. But so far as the pre-election is concerned, I don’t think I am going to have any alliance with anybody.”
