Twist in Oppn dynamics: Mamata to meet Pawar

New Delhi: Signifying an interesting churn in Opposition politics, Trinamul Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to meet Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar on March 28.

Though it was not immediately clear whether the meeting was a one-on-one or other parties have also been invited, it assumes significance as Ms Banerjee is not attending a meeting of Opposition parties being called by former Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on March 13. The TMC chief will send representatives instead to Mrs Gandhi’s dinner.

Trinamul Congress sources said that senior NCP leader Praful Patel went to Kolkata to invite Ms Banerjeee.

However, Mr Patel told this newspaper: “She had called and sought a meeting. Mr Pawar and Ms Banerjee are likely to meet in Delhi.”

There was no confirmation on whether other parties would also attend Mr Pawar and Ms Banerjee’s March 28 meeting. However, NCP’s Rajya Sabha MP Majid Memon has thrown a separate dinner on March 15 where Opposition leaders are likely to meet, sources said.

Interestingly, both Mr Pawar and Ms Banerjee are seen as potential leaders of an anti-BJP alliance in the run up to the 2019 general polls.

Apart from throwing her hat in the ring as a possible leader of any alliance — whether Opposition or Third Front —  to take on the BJP in the 2019 general polls, the West Bengal chief minister has been actively reaching out to regional parties like Telangana Rashtra Samiti and Telugu Desam Party for the formation of a non-Congress and non-BJP platform ahead of 2019.

Mr Pawar had also started hunting in the Opposition game by calling a ‘Save the Constitution’ march on January 26 which had been attended by many parties.

Though the Congress has been trying to stitch together an Opposition alliance, not many parties are enthusiastic about taking on the BJP under Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. Ms Banerjee has specially made it clear that the leader of any such alliance should be an experienced politician and has hinted her own suitability for the job.

As far as the former Congress chief Mrs Gandhi’s dinner was concerned, it would be attended by the usual parties and leaders. The Congress has ruled out inviting either the Telugu Desam Party or the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, who have raised issues with the NDA and Modi government’s style of functioning recently.

It remains to be seen whether the Congress can appropriate the leadership role of Opposition parties or has to cede it under the ambition of regional satraps. Recently, it received a setback of kinds when former ally Samajwadi Party decided to take the support for two crucial bypolls in Uttar Pradesh the results of which could be a decider for the 2019 Opposition experiment.

As a senior Opposition leader put it: “There is a tremendous political churn going on in the country. We have to wait and watch.”