Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s fledgling moves to position herself at the head of opposition unity efforts is already having to reconcile with the dependence of some regional parties on the Congress. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut has frowned on Mamata’s efforts to upstage Congress while NCP has clarified that opposition unity requires Congress participation too.

Obviously, both parties 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.

If Congress can win Uttarakhand and Goa besides Punjab in the forthcoming assembly elections, it would set back Mamata further. Undoubtedly, she has earned the esteem of opposition leaders after reversing BJP’s determined march into Bengal by leading from the front. But the difficulty in building a national party without engineering defections from other outfits and putting opposition unity at risk stares her in the face.

Mamata’s challenge is to not burn all her bridges with Congress while securing acceptability from regional chieftains. The confusion in opposition ranks is good news for BJP but the Rahul-or-Mamata question could also force Congress to up its game. Nevertheless, the prospect of BJP facing a combined opposition looks dim given too many divisions and contradictions in the opposition ranks.

https://divya-bharat.com/reality-checks-for-mamatas-opposition-unity-project/