If these leaders believe that they can emerge winners only with the slogan “Modi Hatao”, they would be only day dreaming.

The major opposition political parties are scheduled to blow the bugle for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections at a massive rally in Patna next week on June 23.

It is for the first time since the last Lok Sabha elections that all these parties would be represented by their top leaders on the same platform.

Till a few months ago, the major regional parties, mostly ruling in their respective states, had been keeping the Congress at bay in view of its successive electoral losses.

Leaders of some of these regional political parties, like West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, besides Aam Aadmi Party supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, had been projecting themselves as the leader of opposition who could take on Narendra Modi led BJP in the next elections.

Evidently the political scenario was watched with glee by the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which saw a bright chance of a third term with the opposition leaders quibbling among themselves and any unity among them remained a far cry.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and his party’s grand success in Karnataka have paved the way for re-assertion of the party as the leading national party to take on the Modi-led juggernaut which had turned into a well-oiled election machine.

Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra, which may not have made any immediate impact with his party badly losing in Gujarat and winning in Himachal Pradesh without any contribution from him, had otherwise galvanised the party workers.

Opposition leaders might still not see Congress in the driver’s seat to lead the opposition in the ensuing elections but now concede that there can be no opposition mahagathbandhan without the Congress.

Importantly it had also transformed Rahul Gandhi’s image from “Pappu” to “Rahul” with other political leaders beginning to look at him with some seriousness.

It is in this light that the meeting Nitish Kumar had with with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi was significant. Both the leaders have agreed to be present at the mahagathbandhan rally in Patna next week.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee too has welcomed Congress leaders at the meeting although she has bitter rivalry with Congress in her home state. In fact she inducted a Congress MLA to her party only last week but stated that regional politics were different from national politics.

It would be foolhardy on opposition’s part to believe that forming a joint front only would pose a major challenge to Modi led coalition.

Interestingly she has been claiming that the Congress, the left parties and the BJP had joined hands in West Bengal to oppose her!

Besides the Congress and Mamata Banerjee, other leaders who have agreed to be present at the joint opposition rally include Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI general secretary D. Raja, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI (ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, according to Nitish Kumar.

Incidentally, the venue of the meeting was chosen after a difference of opinion over other venues as some of the opposition leaders wanted a ‘neutral’ venue where Congress did not get to play the host for the meeting.

But while the opposition might be able to bring all its top leaders on a single platform, it would be foolhardy on its part to believe that forming a joint front would pose a major challenge to Modi led coalition.

Similarly if these leaders believe that they can emerge winners only with the slogan “Modi hatao”, they would be only day dreaming.

They will need to come out with a solid plan of action to take the country and its citizens forward.

They will need to talk about generation of jobs, entrepreneurship, economy, communal harmony, rule of law, protection of democracy, education, nutrition and health, infrastructure, housing and numerous such sectors to meet the challenges of the future.

Doling out freebies and giving impracticable assurances won’t help. Citizens of the country have seen enough of these gimmicks. They would like to vote for a peaceful, strong and futuristic India.

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