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By Rohit Kumar Singh: Congress’s emphatic win in Karnataka Assembly election may has come as a big boost for the grand old party ahead of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but it is also likely to create roadblocks as far as the opposition unity is concerned.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been spearheading the campaign to unite the opposition parties in the country, now may not be able to manoeuvre as freely as he was doing in the past few weeks.
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In the last one month, Nitish has emerged as a prominent face of the Opposition who has been single-handedly taking the initiative to bring together the opposition parties.
He began the campaign to unite the opposition by meeting the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in Delhi last month followed by series of meetings with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal CM Mamta Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thakrey and Left leaders, including Sitaram Yechury and D Raja.
It is notable that Nitish Kumar began his nationwide tour to unite the opposition only after Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as MP. This even triggered speculations that Bihar CM is expecting that Rahul might not be able to contest the next Lok Sabha elections due to his conviction in the Surat defamation case, a situation which would be very suitable for Nitish Kumar to emerge as the face of the opposition.
However, with Congress registering a stellar victory in Karnataka, the situation has now completely changed in favour of the Congress as Rahul Gandhi is being credited for the party’s spectacular win in the southern state. It is evident that the Congress, which had been lying low for quite a while has got a big boost with a Karnataka and the bargaining capacity of the party has also increased as far as opposition unity is the concerned.
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It may be mentioned that a BJP win in Karnataka would have further decimated the Congress and would have helped Nitish Kumar to negotiate hard and also emerge as the PM face as he belongs to the Hindi heartland state. However, now it seems that the table has completely turned in favour of the Congress and therefore jeopardising the initiative of Bihar CM to unite the opposition.
It is learnt that the Congress from here on will be asserting itself in several states, including Bihar, where it is an alliance partner in the Mahagathbandhan government, which comprises of Janata Dal United and RJD primarily. It is also expected that the Congress in Bihar will now look for cabinet berths in the Nitish government as and when the cabinet expansion takes place.
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