Congress' campaign for Rahul Gandhi loses steam in 3 days; has Oppn unity fizzled out?

The Congress party is putting every ounce of effort in protesting against the decision to disqualify Rahul Gandhi as a Member of Parliament (MP). Several parts of the country is witnessing marches being carried out by the party members, but only the party members. Willing to lead the opposition front, Congress seems to lack support of other factions who are attacking BJP for Rahul's removal following a judicial process, but none seem to be willing to join the protests. 

Opposition unity fizzles out in 72 hours?

On March 24, Rahul was disqualified as the Wayanad (in Kerala) MP after being convicted in the Modi surname criminal defamation case and received two years of imprisonment. Citing provisions of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1954, his parliamentary membership was revoked and what followed was intense condemnation by several parties including Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC), Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT), and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) along with others.

#WATCH | Delhi: Meeting of Opposition leaders of like-minded parties underway at the residence of Rajya Sabha LoP and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. pic.twitter.com/fPyvLJAruA

— ANI (@ANI)

Leaders of the said factions also met at Congress party President and Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on the evening of March 27 to discuss the way forward. While major leaders from the aforementioned parties appeared for the meeting, none showed up for the marches Congress is carrying out in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, New Delhi, Puducherry, Maharashtra and Bihar along with other few other states. Donned in an all black attire to symbolise a 'black chapter in democracy', Congress leaders claimed to take a stand for democracy's survival all by themselves. 

Youth Congress is leading a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to protest against the unjust disqualification of Shri Rahul Gandhi.

This decision by the BJP Govt is nothing but an attempt to silence the voices of Opposition.

But we, as a united front, will not back down. pic.twitter.com/JEiOllKa8X

— Odisha Congress (@INCOdisha)

A nation rises in protest against the undemocratic suspension of @RahulGandhi from the parliament.

Night march against BJP fascist rule that suppresses opposition voices. pic.twitter.com/hv6AiCWmzd

— Congress Kerala (@INCKerala)

In the past few days, a crack in opposition has been fairly apparent. The most recent hint came from Akhilesh Yadav who, although lent support to Rahul, alleged that Congress also used to misuse Central agencies (CBI, ED, NIA etc.), something which he says BJP is doing now. The SP leader has been vocal about maintaining distance from Congress ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and aims to defeat the BJP on all 80 seats in UP by itself. Mamata Banerjee too has vowed to go solo for the general elections, after one of his ministers advised Congress not to act like the 'Big Boss.' 

Congress, on the other hand, says that there is no opposition without it, and that no other party can replace it in their collective plan to oust the BJP. The Bengal CM, meanwhile, recently met with Akhilesh, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneshwar and then JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, raising suspicions of her plans to form a new opposition front; although she has confirmed nothing. What we do know courtesy of Kumaraswamy that CM Banerjee has offered to campaign for the former Karnataka CM in the upcoming assembly elections. With possible role changes in the view, it remains to be seen which comes out on top and if a solid opposition front is faced by the BJP.