Importance of being Nitish Kumar amid clearing of decks for Oppn unity project

Declining to lift the stay, the Supreme Court last week noted that the high court had kept the matter for hearing on July 3, saying it will take up the matter on July 14 if the high court does not hear it for some reason.

Nitish, who has seldom spared the Centre over undermining of the federal structure, seized on the Delhi ordinance row to step up his efforts for Opposition unity for taking on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The issue gave Nitish fresh ammunition in his battle against the BJP dispensation over its “vendetta politics” against the Opposition parties.

As the Congress got a major boost by its resounding victory in the Karnataka Assembly polls, Nitish sought to downplay it by saying it was a “predictable” win.

The 72-year-old eight-time Bihar CM did not want the Congress’s triumph to overshadow his bid for what his party calls “Mission Nitish 2024”. It is a different matter that Nitish has continued to maintain that he is not in the prime ministerial race and that his current goal is only to mobilise the maximum possible number of non-BJP parties on a single platform for the 2024 grand showdown, with the Congress in a leadership role.

On Monday, Nitish met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi to give further momentum to the Opposition unity project.

Nitish has also ensured that he is accompanied by his Deputy CM, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, during most of his meetings with top Opposition leaders across the country, ranging from the Congress leaders and Kejriwal to Bengal CM and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and SP president AkhileshYadav, to NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray.

Keeping Tejashwi by his side reflects Nitish’s 2024 national ambition and a division of their aspirations, as he has already held that the former would be the Mahagathbandhan’s face in the Bihar 2025 Assembly polls. Nitish is said to have not given as much importance to even Sushil Kumar Modi, the BJP veteran, when he had been his deputy in the erstwhile NDA coalition government.

Nitish has emerged as a key factor in the Mission Opposition unity as he has succeeded in breaking the ice between the Congress and some of the key regional players like Mamata and Kejriwal, with whom the grand old party’s relations had been strained.

The Bihar CM even visited Bhubaneshwar to meet his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik, the BJD supremo, even though the latter stuck by his stand that he would remain equidistant from the BJP and the Congress.

Nitish could however not meet Telangana CM and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao or KCR and Andhra Pradesh CM and YSRCP chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy so far, who have been estranged from the Congress. KCR has his own national aspirations and he may not like to play second fiddle to other Opposition players.

The efficacy of the Nitish factor in the Opposition unity plan would be established if he succeeds in bringing top non-BJP leaders from South India, such as KCR and Jagan, into the larger Opposition fold for the 2024 elections. The Tamil Nadu CM and DMK president, M K Stalin, has already been a staunch Congress ally.

While mounting his efforts for a united front, Nitish is keen that the Opposition parties try and field one common candidate against the BJP in as many seats as possible in the 2024 elections to avert vote division. The Congress would face hurdles on seat-sharing with various prospective allies.

There are still several variables in the Opposition unity project, even as Nitish has taken some notable initiatives. Observers say the Bihar CM now needs to take them to another level, marked by some significant results, beyond the game of just optics.