New Delhi, August 21
Off to a heartening start with a joint meeting hosted by Sonia Gandhi on Friday, the broader Opposition faces a major hurdle in the race to 2024 Lok Sabha elections — the 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls where principal regional parties SP and BSP continue to be distant.
The absence of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav from the meeting of 19 parties on Friday has had the Opposition titans worried, knowing well that for any success in the 2024 General Election, Uttar Pradesh has to be won. The state has the maximum number of seats in the Lok Sabha.
With both the BSP and SP consistent in staying away from any Congress-led Opposition, it remains to be seen whether the emerging non-BJP front can forge unity in UP, where elections are due next year. The BJP had in the 2017 state elections won 312 of 403 seats — a vote share of 39.7 per cent. The SP won 47 seats (21.9% votes), BSP 19 seats (22.2% votes), Congress seven seats (6.25% votes) and the RLD one seat (1.78%) votes.
The four Opposition parties together clocked 52.13 per cent votes even though they won much fewer seats. A similar unity in the 2015 Bihar elections had led to BJP’s defeat.
It remains to be seen how the Opposition will prevail on major UP parties beyond merely calling upon them to “come together against an autocratic BJP to save secularism and democracy.” Several leaders, including Congress men, recently threw their weight behind Akhilesh, arguing that the Congress must back him.
Congress sources pointed out that Sonia Gandhi had already called upon all parties to rise above their compulsions for winning the 2024 polls.
“Will the Congress support the SP then? If yes, at what cost since Akhilesh may not be willing to offer too many seats to the Congress,” a former minister observed, adding that the first test for Opposition unity would be the UP poll strategy.
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