Undercurrents of rivalry between AAP and TMC will impinge on bid for Opposition unity against BJP

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 8

Undercurrents of rivalry between the AAP and the TMC for political space in their bid to expand footprints nationally will impinge on the bid for unity of Opposition parties.

The AAP, whose leaders are buoyed by their perception of good response from the public in other states where the party has made moves to expand across the country will continue with gusto.

Although leaders of both the parties swear by unity of the Opposition parties against the BJP and have aligned themselves to broad-based floor coordination of anti-BJP parties in both Houses of Parliament against the government, distrust between the leadership of both the parties is said to have crept in.

Heads of the two parties, Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, had demonstrated good personal chemistry between them before TMC registered a landslide victory in the Assembly election in West Bengal this year and trounced the assertive BJP.

Since TMC’s victory in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is trying to aggressively catapult herself as the face of the Opposition spectrum against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The TMC has ventured out in the States, including Goa and Haryana where AAP is eyeing to make a mark.

A large section in the AAP is miffed at TMC stepping in the States where it has made the first move against the BJP.

Reports have it that TMC is looking for an opportunity to expand itself in States like Delhi, where AAP is in power, and in Punjab where the latter sniffs a chance to win the Assembly elections early next year and form a government.

Also, the TMC is planning moves in Uttarakhand which will go to polls early next year. The AAP has already declared its Chief Ministerial candidate and presented itself as an alternative to the ruling BJP and the Congress.

A leader of AAP said the party is banking on good governance provided in Delhi to be presented as a model for other States under its stewardship and general acceptability of Arvind Kejriwal as leader and administrator among the people.

In such a situation, Banerjee’s calisthenics threatens to cast a shadow on AAP’s national aspirations, and upset its applecart.