Opposition unity received another jolt on Thursday after poll strategist Prashant Kishor posted a cryptic tweet, saying the “idea and space” the Congress represents is “vital” for the Opposition but its leadership is not the “divine right of an individual”.
The tweet is being seen as an attack on Rahul Gandhi, as Kishor said the Congress had “lost more than 90% elections in the last 10 years”. Rahul has been the de facto leader of the Congress since he was made party vice president in January 2013.
The latest barb by Kishor, who has been advising West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, will only enlarge the cracks in the relationship between the Congress and the TMC, which has been having a go at the grand old party just about every other day.
In the last few days, the TMC has made it a point to attack Rahul while attacking Congress simultaneously. Even during her meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Banerjee is learnt to have expressed her views about the leadership issue in the Congress.
Many Opposition leaders in private have been batting for a non-Rahul leadership in the Congress to enable leaders from other regional parties to work under a common umbrella.
There have also been murmurs of a renewed bid to bring back big leaders of the Congress, who left the party and are not aligned with the BJP, an idea which also finds favour with a section of the G-23 group.
One such leader Sanjay Jha said the Congress will not win the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if Rahul remained at the helm of the Congress.
While G-23 leaders like Kapil Sibal underlined the significance of the Congress in the fight against the BJP, after Mamata said there was no UPA, they have so far been mum on the Mamata-Rahul rivalry so far.
“Without the Congress, UPA will be a body without a soul. Time to show opposition unity,” Sibal tweeted.
Former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday rubbed it in, saying Banerjee and Pawar were trying to keep the Congress at bay.
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