Kolkata rally decoded: Why the Opposition wants to make the Lok Sabha contest a sum of many battles

Updated Jan 21, 2019 | 17:47 IST | Sumeet Kaul

Feeble attempts in the last few months – including one by DMK chief MK Stalin -- to prop up Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial face of the Opposition have backfired.

Photo Credit: PTI

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy and DMK president MK Stalin at the Opposition rally in Kolkata, Saturday, Jan 19, 2019.

  

New Delhi: On the face of it the 20-plus political parties gathered at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground on January 19 appeared to have a single-point agenda: oust Narendra Modi from the PM’s chair. Indeed, in speech after speech, Opposition leaders targeted the prime minister and BJP president Amit Shah.

But the question remains: Who is the face of the Opposition to take on Modi? Feeble attempts in the last few months – including one by DMK chief MK Stalin -- to prop up Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial face of the Opposition have backfired spectacularly, with the likes of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav publically distancing themselves from any such portrayal of the Congress president.

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