Road to 2024 | The great Opposition unity plans, and the many imponderables
On June 23, top Opposition leaders will converge in Patna to begin discussions on formation of a broad front against the BJP. For many parties, it is a political alliance of necessity in view of next year’s crucial Lok Sabha elections. For the opponents of some – such as Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar and Sharad Pawar – it is yet another turn by them in the art of political and personal convenience. They point to Sunday’s return to the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi by Kejriwal, this time for a rally against the Centre’s ordinance for control of services in the national capital where, seated next to him, was Rajya Sabha MP and former Congress Union minister Kapil Sibal. As a Congress leader, Sibal was one of the top names in the Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo’s list of “corrupt”. During the initial years of the Anna Hazare agitation, of which Kejriwal was a crucial part, and later, the AAP’s compilation of such names ran long. It is another matter that Kejriwal would go on to “apologise” to most of them to get out of defamation cases, including to Sibal and his son Amit. (Kejriwal had accused Amit of conflict of interest, saying he had appeared in court for a telecom firm while his father was the Communications Minister.)
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