As it appears, there's (still unresolved) tension within the NCP. Its just concluded top-tier meeting in Delhi, however, has, apparently, put a brake on Pawar's move to align closely with Mamata in order to ditch the Congress. Not, to be sure, driven by any commitment to any high principle but the obvious fact that it's going to put the MVA government in Maharashtra in jeopardy where the NCP has a dy. chief minister, home minister and also a few other ministers. That prospect must be too unpalatable to the second-rung leadership.
Quite possibly, it's, broadly, the same reason that made Sena leader Sanjay Raut rush to Delhi to meet Rahul and Priyanka. Looks like, Rahul has agreed to visit Mumbai in very near future and meet Uddhav Thackeray to, inter alia, shore up the defence of the MVA government. Sena has the highest stake in the survival of the government. If not just pure ideological but such practical considerations are likely to deter also the DMK and the JMM. Most likely the RJD as well, despite its (intensifying?) tussle with its largest partner at the ground level while the second largest partner is expected to play a stabilising role. The Left has its own problems with the Congress, but that very much pales in comparison with that with the TMC. Neither the AAP, nor even the BSP, is expected to partner with the TMC. The JD(S) and SP have hardly anything to gain, or lose, from an alliance with the TMC, but may, nevertheless, provide the satisfaction of spiting the Congress; but, the SP, in particular, faces the threat of erosion in its anti-BJP credentials and thereby Muslims votes - on which it's critically dependent and the JD(S) may actually gain significantly from an alliance with the Congress. So, the remaining players that count are those not in any formal alliance with the BJP and yet maintain a rather cosy relationship - at the Centre, despite contests at the respective state levels: BJD, YSRCP and TRS. And, it is these potential allies that brings the real essence of Mamata's passionate drive for the "opposition leadership" out in the open. PK is, all said and done, a businessperson and selling a dangerous and, potentially, ruinous dream to a greedy and, thereby, somewhat credulous Mamata. Here, it'd be quite pertinent to reiterate that apart from the pan-India spread and current numerical strength, the Congress is the lone political outfit - barring, to a limited extent, the much weakened Left, that's waging a relentless campaign - even if as yet not too effective, on virtually all issues against the evil force in power, very much in the process of overturning "India" alongwith its (fast fading) "democratic" and pluralistic essence. I/III. <<Sharad Pawar's close confidante, Praful Patel, did make certain statements yesterday that could be misconstrued. After the meeting of the NCP's working committee, he said, "(Our) Leaders have agreed to work with like-minded parties for the coming elections...we will work with Mamata Banerjee." But any inference that Sharad Pawar is ready to jettison the Congress is more a flight of one's imagination rather than sound political analysis. Sharad Pawar knows that for his party to survive, the Maharashtra government must do so as well. And that can only happen if the Congress and he continue to work together in harmony.>> (Excerpted from: < https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/mamata-banerjee-hits-a-wall-with-sharad-pawar-and-sena-2642135 >.) II/III. <<Obviously, both parties [i.e. Shiv Sena and NCP] are mindful that the MVA government in Maharashtra cannot function without Congress support. DMK chief MK Stalin is also unlikely to join the Mamata as PM pitch given the successful pre-poll alliance he has crafted with Congress. RJD’s Lalu Yadav or JMM’s Heman Soren may also not be in a hurry to dump Congress. However, Mamata may have better luck with those regional parties opposed to Congress like BJD, SP, YSRCP and TRS.>> (Excerpted from: < https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-editorials/reality-checks-for-mamatas-opposition-unity-project/ >.) III. For an interesting counterview - quite significantly, based essentially on (somewhat contrived) anti-Congressism: <<The case for Mamata Banerjee is as follows. The present BJP poses an existential threat to the Republic on two major fronts. The first is the matter of whether India's 200 million Muslims will be allowed to live as equal citizens in social and political practice as well as law, whether the constitutional vision of India as a home to all will survive. The second is an intensified version of the threat posed by Indira Gandhi in the 1970s: of the crippling of republican institutions by the identification of the Republic with a single individual. Few if any contemporary politicians have fought Hindutva with as much success as Banerjee. Unlike the vast majority of her Opposition peers-including the Congress' present leadership - she led anti-CAA/NRC rallies herself. Even if this were her only qualification, it could not be dismissed. On the second point, Banerjee is on weak ground. The only counter that can be offered to her record of authoritarian Caesarism is that she could not act in Delhi, as the head of a coalition, as she does in Kolkata. ... A Congress which has consecutively won fewer than 10% of Lok Sabha seats, and which has exactly 10% of India's Chief Ministers, cannot claim Opposition leadership by right. At the state level, the Congress has been increasingly willing to take on the role of junior partner, including in states where it is the historically dominant party (Maharashtra, Karnataka), in the short-term quest of denying the BJP power. In Kerala, the central leadership have tacitly consented to an arrangement in which the Congress does not vigorously contest state elections, and in turn wins a reliable majority of Lok Sabha seats. In practice, Congress leadership of the Opposition means Gandhi leadership, which means a contest that Narendra Modi and a pliant media are allowed to define in presidential terms. It means a contest this country has run twice already. Those who think it will go differently a third or fourth or fifth time are confusing the country they think they ought to live in with the one they actually do. On one plausible reading of Banerjee and Kishor's tactics, they care nothing for Opposition unity, or the threat to the Republic posed by BJP hegemony. Like the Aam Aadmi Party, they see the Congress ceding political space and see no reason why they shouldn't claim it. On another - more applicable to Kishor than Banerjee - these are attempts to force change in the Congress, or force the country to move on from the paradigm of "BJP versus Congress". Either way, in a democracy, with no individual or party entitled to leadership, and the Congress unwilling or unable to lead, what are they really guilty of? Ambition. To accuse a politician of ambition is like accusing a giraffe of having a long neck.>> (Excerpted from: < https://www.ndtv.com/opinion/mamata-banerjee-pk-vs-congress-is-much-needed-keshava-guha-2642228 >.) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/greenyouth/CACEsOZi6M24_EM5nSgyFA1w9eR33R1ovMcKuoiH7rUXK5eWdMQ%40mail.gmail.com.
