Congress's sucessful Bandh under question as SP, Trinamool abstain from agitation
New Delhi: Though the Congress claimed success in getting the Opposition together for the Bharat Bandh against fuel price hike, the absence of SP, BSP, refusal of the Trinamul Congress to officially endorse the strike in West Bengal and the Left Parties holding a separate protest pointed to the deep fault-lines which exist in any such grouping. Added to this was a terse statement from the Aad Aadmi Party that though it had “in-principal” supported the Bandh, it did not approve of the “big brother” attitude of the Congress Party.
The most glaring of the existing fault-lines was the refusal of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party to participate in the common opposition programmes held in the capital though it observed a Bandh in Uttar Pradesh.
An SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh is crucial to the Opposition’s plan of removing the Modi government from power in 2019. Though Congress does not have too much at stake in UP apart from the Gandhi family pocket boroughs of Amethi and Rae Bareli, it hopes to be accommodated respectfully in the seat-sharing pact which materialises in the state.
Congress chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, however, dismissed any pressure tactics from the SP and BSP saying the Congress joined them in organising a mammoth protest in PM’s constituency Varanasi. The AAP joined the protests at two different places. While Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh attended the Congress event at Rajghat, Delhi leader Atish Marlena joined Left protestors at Jantar Mantar. Sources said it took phone calls from top Congress leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel for the AAP to agree to join the Congress protests.
However, the AAP was quick to issue a statement this evening that though it believed in Opposition unity, the Congress cannot be the Umbrella under which all opposition parties are comfortable. “The Aam Aadmi Party is of the clear view that all opposition parties must unite and force the Modi Govt to reverse it’s anti-people policies, which are solely responsible for price rise, particularly the unprecedented rise in prices of Petrol and Diesel”. “The Congress has to shun its big brother and unreasonable attitude towards other parties,” the statement further said.
Similarly, though the Trinamul Congress sent its representative Sukhendu Shekhar Roy to the Rajghat Programme, in TMC-ruled West Bengal, the Bandh was not officially endorsed, but “protests” held. It might be recalled that the TMC chief had hinted at her suitability as a Prime Ministerial candidate and had refused to accept Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the leader of any Opposition alliance.
On similar lines, the Left parties decided to hold a separate protest though they affirmed their support to the Bandh called by Congress Party. At the back of the Left decision might be the divisions in the CPI(M) over forming any electoral alliance with the Congress. Though the Party in its Central Committee meeting in August had agreed that its primary objective was to defeat the Modi government, it has been torn in the middle over whether to officially form any alliance with the Congress.
