The Cracks In Opposition Unity In South India

In 1969, the Glass House of Lalbagh in Bengaluru was witness to the first split of the Congress party after months of internal conflict. More than 50 years later, the Congress is leading efforts in uniting Opposition parties to put on a strong front against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 in the same city. Twenty-six Opposition parties were invited to the second of such huddle in Karnataka where the Congress swept the polls two months ago. But how will the chemistry of the alliance be mapped out when regional parties feel more threatened by the Congress than by the BJP and have internal infighting against Congress?

The first of the Opposition unity meetings held in Patna functioned with largely one motto: focus on commonalities, ignore the differences. But some major absentees from the meeting —all three major parties from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS, previously TRS)— showed the issues in forging such a unity despite their common goal of constructing an opposition against BJP.

The case of Telugu states

In December 2022, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandraskhekhar Rao announced with much flourish the new name of his political party — Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). It was until then known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). The rebranding of TRS as BRS marked the formal launch of his party into national politics. KCR announced “Ab ki baar kisan sarkar (farmers’ government this time)” as the slogan of his party, which sounded eerily similar to BJP’s catchy “Ab ki baar, Modi sarkar” that was used during the 2014 general elections. 

More than six months later, the KCR-led party declared that it would not make efforts to forge opposition unity and would rather branch out on its own. The BRS would instead focus on presenting the ‘Telangana development model’ to the country, said party working president and minister KT Rama Rao. 

Rama Rao, KCR’s son who holds several crucial portfolios in the Telangana government, questioned the basis of an Opposition unity tailored around opposition to one man — an indication at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The country does not need such unity on the basis of blind hatred against one party or one man,” he said.

However, KCR, in his bid for a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance, had earlier met several leaders including some of the chief ministers of other states such as M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), and Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), alleging that both the national parties failed to develop the country. Even on the Karnataka Assembly poll results, KCR said it was not a Congress victory but the “rejection of the incumbent government”.

Meanwhile, the Congress had not invited KCR to the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar in Bengaluru, which witnessed a show of strength by prominent leaders of Opposition parties. 

The stance of BRS is likely prompted by the upcoming assembly elections in the state which is scheduled to be held before December where the Congress and the BJP will both take on the regional party. Meanwhile, in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress contends with the YSRCP and the TDP, both of whom have not exhibited staunch opposition to the BJP.

Kerala: Congress Vs CPIM 

Kerala poses another challenge to Opposition unity. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is the main rival of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the state. Pinarayi, whose CPI(M)-led LDF governs Kerala, has maintained that Congress cannot rule the country on its own anymore. “The Congress ruled the country by itself for a long time. But it is not the same Congress, they are weaker. Now South India is completely rid of the BJP. But the governments in Telangana or Andhra or Tamil Nadu or Kerala are not Congress. Congress has to accept that reality,” Pinarayi said after Congress’s victory in Karnataka. 

The existing feud between CPI(M) and Congress —two main poles of the state’s politics— is another reminder of the slippery path the Opposition will have to traverse as it builds a united front.

Hours after the Patna opposition meeting on June 23, the Congress targeted CPI(M) over the arrest of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President K. Sudhakaran by the crime branch of the state police in a forgery case. The party described the Vijayan government’s action as “political vendetta”.

While Sudhakaran was later released on bail, the move prompted AICC General Secretary (Communication) Jairam Ramesh to refer to Vijayan as “Mundu Modi” after the official handle of the Kerala Congress accused the Chief Minister of copying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “autocratic and undemocratic ways”.

With the Congress and CPM-led fronts facing off in 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, the tensions are expected to escalate. 

Tamil Nadu: The Mekedatu Dispute

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s participation in the Bengaluru meeting comes at a time when the Congress government in Karnataka has announced that they would build a dam and reservoir on the Cauvery at Mekedatu, which Tamil Nadu believes is likely to hinder the flow of Cauvery water to the state.

The Congress and the DMK are allies against the BJP in the South but the two parties have contrasting positions on the construction of a reservoir on the Cauvery river in Mekedatu, which borders the two states.

Tamil Nadu BJP President Annamalai alleged that the Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar will not release water to Tamil Nadu. Annamalai further claimed that Stalin would compromise on Tamil Nadu’s rights if he attended the Opposition meeting in Bengaluru in the wake of the Congress-led Karnataka government’s stand on building the dam. He added that the BJP would stage a “Go back Stalin” agitation if the CM chose to attend the meet.

While there is a long history of contention over the dam between the two states, a fresh round of controversy erupted when Shivakumar announced that they will build a dam on Cauvery at Mekedatu.

Reacting to the statement, DMK’s General Secretary and Water Resources Minister of Tamil Nadu Durai Murugan shot back saying that this would be tantamount to going against the ruling of the Supreme Court in the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT). He referred to the 2007 CWDT order adding that any unauthorised construction on the river could harm the interest of Tamil Nadu and its farmers and should not be carried out without its consent.  

Apart from the BJP, the main Opposition party in the state, AIADMK, has also announced its protest if the Karnataka government moves ahead with the construction of the dam and the reservoir. 

While loose coalitions have been formed in the past, these many different parties have not banded together on a national level to take on the ruling party in government since the 1960s, The Indian Express reported. The larger challenge before the Opposition would be to impress upon the voters that there is unity despite these differences, and that the overarching narrative that takes priority is of a joint national Opposition taking on the BJP.