Dear Readers,

The CPI(M), officially, and the Congress, unofficially, have acknowledged that the failure to check the division of anti-BJP votes in Tripura proved to be fatal for the Opposition parties. In Meghalaya, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Congress contemplated an unworkable post-poll tie-up, but their big egos had come in the way of unity before the elections.

The outcome of the elections in the Northeastern states has come as a reality check for the Congress, the Left, and the TMC, with the latter realising rather painfully that expanding outside its citadel of West Bengal is easier said than done. In Karnataka. where the next electoral battle will play out in two months. the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) are not keen on a tie-up.

In a crucial election year, there is so much talk about Opposition unity but the signals emanating from the parties suggest an attitude of “to each their own”. The Congress, the main Opposition party, has been giving mixed signals. The latest is Rahul Gandhi’s vague remark that the Congress has “got some very Interesting Ideas of how we can move forward and also bring the Opposition together (but) I don’t want to … spoil the surprise”.

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