Building a third front won’t be easy

Regional outfits have enjoyed a greater share of success in challenging the BJP at the state level, than the Congress, whose internal disturbances and atrophying electoral presence have weakened its claim to be the national Opposition pole

Last week saw the beginning of another Opposition effort to create a common platform to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 general elections. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata, and both parties announced plans to talk to other regional outfits to hammer out an understanding while maintaining equal distance from the BJP and the Congress. Ms Banerjee will travel to Bhubaneswar this week to meet her Odisha counterpart, Naveen Patnaik, who has stayed steadfastly neutral and is also slated to come to Delhi later this month to initiate discussions with other parties. Though the SP and the Trinamool Congress refused to label their attempts as working towards a third front, it is difficult to see this as anything but.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee with Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, Kolkata, March 17 (PTI)

The motivations are clear. With roughly a year to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP enjoys a clear edge in messaging, financing and popularity. Regional outfits have enjoyed a greater share of success in challenging this political hegemony at the state level than the Congress, whose internal disturbances and atrophying electoral presence have weakened its claim to be the national Opposition pole. Yet, previous efforts to stitch together a regional front of parties have often been nixed by internal contradictions, competing ambitions and the absence of an overarching national narrative, which means that the influence of these parties remains localised. As the unsuccessful efforts of K Chandrasekhar Rao or Chandrababu Naidu before the 2019 elections showed, Lok Sabha polls are now more presidential and strong local leaders often get busy defending their regional turf. And though the Congress is explicitly not a part of these plans for now, the 160-odd seats where it is in direct battle with the BJP will be a key determinant in 2024. Some clues on how these contests are evolving will come from a clutch of states that vote later this year.