Opinion Express View on Kerala face-off between Congress and CPM: Opposition within

The feud in Kerala erupted immediately after the Patna conclave: Leaders of 15 Opposition parties had met in the Bihar capital to forge a joint anti-BJP front. The meeting, despite the AAP sparring with the Congress, had ended on a positive note, with the leaders promising to iron out their differences and agreeing to finalise pre-poll tactics in Shimla next month.

Sceptical voices had pointed out that Opposition unity is easier said than achieved since many of these parties are in competition with each other in the states — UP, West Bengal, Kerala, Punjab, Goa and Meghalaya among others. In the final count, the Kerala numbers will not make a difference since it is a contest between the CPM and Congress-led fronts. However, the open name-calling does impact the optics and could even buttress the BJP’s campaign that a joint Opposition front is a chimera.

The narrative of a feuding Opposition is likely to find even more traction when the campaign for the West Bengal local bodies’ polls picks up soon. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has been claiming that the TMC is fighting the combined might of the BJP, CPM and Congress. The UP scenario is no less complicated, with the SP sceptical of sharing seats with the Congress and others. Throw in KCR in Telangana, Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh and Naveen Patnaik in Odisha, who have refused to be part of the anti-BJP front, to the mix, and a direct contest between the ruling party and the Opposition is likely to be restricted to just about 300 of the 543 LS seats.

The challenge before the Opposition would be to impress the voters that, in these many seats at least, there is unity within the disunity, and that the battles within are side stories while the overarching narrative is of a joint national Opposition taking on the BJP.