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Opposition disunity blunts Congress’ attack on Modi govt

The grand old party wants to go hard at the Centre over its ‘mishandling’ of Covid-19, but its allies such as NCP, Shiv Sena and JMM aren’t interested; these parties feel they too would be blamed for the same in their respective states.

Keen to pillory the Narendra Modi government over what it called its gross failure in handling the Covid-19 crisis and country’s economy, the Congress is finding it difficult to unite the Opposition to corner the ruling benches during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

 What is set to take wind the out of the Congress’ sail is that there is no unity in the party itself over the issue of corona, though Rahul Gandhi continues to attack the Modi government over the pandemic and economic “mishandling”. The Gandhi scion makes it a point to drop tweet messages from morning to evening, criticising the government for its alleged inability to contain the corona crisis.

Sources said that the AICC media department is preparing a “corona file” with all the data suggesting massive spike in cases across the country. The Congress will be using it as a ground to mount an attack on the Modi government in Parliament. Congress interim boss Sonia Gandhi will discuss the issues with the party MPs on Tuesday, which will be raised in Parliament during the monsoon session commencing on 14 September. She will give the green light for the strategy of the Congress to corner the Modi government over the Covid-19 crisis.

But, the next step of the strategy is to unite the Opposition parties to boost the Congress’ fire power against the government. But it looks difficult given what happened last time when the Congress had found itself isolated on this issue. Even Ghulam Nabi Azad had then termed the government’s measures to fight the pandemic appropriate. Sources said that the party has decided to corner the government over the corona crisis, “worsening” of the economy and unemployment. The strategy was formulated in a meeting of the Congress parliamentary committee chaired by Azad.

There is no denying that Rahul Gandhi has been, from Day 1, slamming the Modi government over its alleged mishandling of the pandemic. He claims to have cautioned the government against an outbreak of Covid-19 in the month of February itself. The Congress had alleged that the government deliberately ignored this warning just for the sake of US President Donald Trump’s visit to India and for toppling the government in Madhya Pradesh.

However, the Congress was confused over the lockdown decision of the government, as states ruled by the party also announced such restrictive measures. Hence, the central Congress leadership was in a dilemma over whether to oppose it or support it. Some party leaders are of the view that the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in the country can give the Congress-led Opposition a handle against the Modi government and it may cost the present regime dear in elections too. But the big question is about the unity of the Opposition.

The Congress’ allies such as NCP, Shiv Sena and JMM do not want to oppose the Centre on the issue of Covid-19. This is so because all these parties are in power in one state or the other, and they are also accountable for the spread of the virus in their respective states. How can these parties join hands with the Congress to attack the Central government over the corona crisis? Even Congress-ruled states are apparently reluctant. The Samajwadi Party is focused only on criticising the Yogi government on the local issues of Uttar Pradesh. The TMC does not want to be seen with the Congress as both the parties have to be rivals in the coming West Bengal Assembly elections next year. The political parties of south Indian states are also not united on this issue. With the Opposition divided like this, how will the Congress’ offensive postures create any substantial impact?

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