Ahead of the 17 July opposition meeting in Bengaluru, the Congress and the AAP seem to have resolved major differences. The Congress party has agreed to back the Aam Aadmi Party against the Centre’s executive order on Delhi bureaucrats. This has brought the opposition unity efforts from crash-landing before take-off. The differences between the Congress and the AAP over the ordinance had threatened to derail the opposition unity ahead of the 2024 general election. The opposition unity still is very fragile.
There are massive differences over various issues among the opposition parties. Further, many of them are in direct contest against each other in several states. On the other hand, the ruling BJP seems to be a formidable force. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge, aided ably by his trusted second lieutenant, union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP is still very strong. The opposition may have to work really hard to have any chance of defeating the ruling BJP in the 2024 general election. The odds still favour the ruling BJP. Some clarity in the opposition camp is expected when they meet in July in Bengaluru. They need to come up with a convincing campaigning plan to take on the formidable BJP.