Opposition unity move: Mamata Banerjee writes to leaders of over a dozen parties, but divisions run too deep

Making yet another call for the Opposition unity in the middle of a hard-fought electoral battle in her state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to over a dozen Opposition leaders flagging the issue of assault on constitutional federalism and appealing for a unity of all Opposition parties to provide a credible alternative to the people against the BJP.

The three-page letter by Banerjee addressed to Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi, NCP boss Sharad Pawar, DMK chief MK Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal and CPI-ML's Dipankar Bhattacharya talks at length on how BJP is using to "topple duly elected non-BJP governments" and to "engineer defections in non-BJP parties" and how in states governed by non-BJP parties, Centre is creating problems for duly elected governments by misusing the governor's office.

"...The BJP wants to make it impossible for non-BJP parties to exercise their Constitutional rights...Time has come for a united and effective struggle against the BJP's attacks on democracy and Constitution," Banerjee said in the letter.

Read more: West Bengal Assembly election: The Matua story, a different narrative of assertion

BJP has dismissed her outreach as signs of her nervousness.

In her epistolary outreach, Banerjee has also written to Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, though BJD and YSR Congress have many time in rescued the central government in the passage of key legislations in the Parliament in the face of Congress-TMC led Opposition in past.

She reached out to NCP SP and RJD, parties which were the first to declare support to her in West Bengal polls as the only leader to take over the BJP in the state even as these parties had fought elections in alliance with Congress in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Congress is contesting polls in West Bengal in alliance with the Left against the ruling TMC.

Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai says "Congress has to be the anchor whether with a PM face or not if a workable Opposition alliance is to be in place. By ignoring Congress, no feasible anti-BJP alliance is possible. But then Congress has to be much more accommodative "

While Banerjee has made a fervent appeal to the parties "chart out a common action plan" after the conclusion of this round of Assembly polls in four states and UT Puducherry, the track record of Opposition unity in the last few years, raises serious doubts about the feasibility of this ambitious plan.

Read: High polling percentage proof change of guard imminent in West Bengal: J P Nadda

Congress which is fighting in Bengal in alliance with CPI-M has alleged a "secret understanding" between LDF's CM Pinarayi Vijayan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a case in the heat of campaign in poll-bound Kerala. In West Bengal, Congress in past in alliance with Trinamool Congress, brought down the Left rule in 2011.

In UP, Congress aggressively campaigned against the ruling BSP in 2012 and SP came to power. In the 2017 state polls, Congress-SP fought together against NDA and BSP contesting separately. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in UP, BSP-SP fought together against BJP while Congress fought alone. After the polls, BSP severed ties with SP.

She has reached out to parties from Shiv Sena in Maharashtra to National Conference and PDP in Jammu and Kashmir even as there is hardly anything common in the ideology of Sena and these two J&K parties.

"As the chairperson of All India Trinamool Congress, I shall work wholeheartedly with you and all other like-minded political parties in this battle. We can win this battle only with unity of hearts and minds, and by presenting a credible alternative to the people of India," she says in the letter.

The letter, though, gives an indication of a sense of urgency building in the Opposition camp against a resurgent BJP, which after decimating Congress is now up to grab space of regional parties as well, practical realities make any such proposition working a central level a much difficult task as Opposition parties are divided among themselves.

P C Chacko, who joined NCP last after serving Congress for decades, called for larger Opposition unity and rued that he did not have an initiative in the party he served earlier to provide an alternative united Opposition to the BJP.

Many in the Opposition camp also feel that given his age, experience and good rapport across the political spectrum, Pawar could be the anchor of Opposition unity, an idea to which Congress is not amused.

In 2018 when Congress was going ga ga about Rahul Gandhis' leadership post party's improved tally in Gujarat polls, NCP leader Praful Patel had baffled many by proclaiming that Sharad Pawar can be the next Prime Minister in 2019. In 2018 Pawar's party had only four members in Lok Sabha. Congress quickly showed its displeasure. Congress has more than often cold-shouldered the idea of the Third Front.

Challenges are galore and possibly the reason why Banerjee in her personal letters to non-BJP leaders, has while highlighting the overarching issue of "assault" by the Modi government on federal structure, has also sought to raise individual issues like the passage of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill related to Delhi as well as Centre "misusing" CBI and ED in Tamil Nadu to conduct raids on functionaries DMK.

She also referred to the moves of the Centre of disbanding the National Development Council, Inter-State Council and the Planning Commission and replacing it with NITI Ayog and said that all this was aimed at deactivating every single platform where state governments used to traditionally place their legitimate demands, needs, concerns and views.