News Analysis
The election for President Ramnath Kovind’s successor is more than two months away. While the government is comfortably placed to pick the candidate of their choice, the election will find the Opposition, which is keen to force an ideological contest, in a difficult position exposing its fault lines and challenging Congress’s position as the lead Opposition party.
So far, no formal conversations have started except for loud musings within a section of Congress. “It is a fact that the Opposition does not have numbers. But this is not simple arithmetic, it is a battle of ideology so we will put up a candidate. And anyway, the only closely fought Presidential election was in 1969 and yet number or no numbers they have been contested,” a senior Congress leader said.
Outside of the Congress-led UPA, TMC, TRS, Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party hold a significant number of votes. And conversations with leaders across these four parties have made it abundantly clear that a Congress nominee will not be acceptable.
TMC, TRS, and AAP have taken a public position against being shepherded by Congress. The TRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has been lobbying for an anti-BJP front sans the Congress. To this end, he recently met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar.
The TMC, which is jockeying for the lead Opposition party’s position after their spectacular victory in May 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal, won’t be part of any negotiations led by the Congress. “The fault is not ours. What did Congress do in Goa? They were in a stronger position and yet they rebuffed all our attempts at forming an alliance. In West Bengal, knowing well they didn’t stand a chance, they still aligned with the Left parties against us,” a senior TMC leader said.
The AAP-Congress has had a frosty relationship since AAP’s 2015 victory in Delhi. AAP has not been part of any Opposition meets hosted by the Congress and after their stupendous victory in the recent Punjab Assembly elections, the situation is unlikely to change.
“If the Opposition does indeed put up a joint candidate, then one thing is clear. It can’t be anyone from the Congress. The Congress with its diminished strength is no longer in a position to dictate terms,” a senior TRS leader said.
