The Congress has given reserved response to Nitish’s call. While agreeing with the Nitish’s call, the Congress sources have made it apparent that they will not compromise on the issue of Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Minister candidate of the secular combination. Significantly, Nitish himself has not officially made any claim to stake for future PM ship though his supporters are demanding that he is the right candidate to head the future government in Delhi led by the secular forces.

Based on the experiences of the earlier coalition governments dominated by the secular parties, there is need for clear understanding among the three major secular combinations – Congress, group led by JD(U) and the Left that there has to be maximum collaboration among the anti-BJP forces in the states so that during the coming elections for the state assemblies in the next three years, the BJP faces reverses and if that happens, the momentum that will be generated by BJP losses in the states elections, will lead to the intensification of the anti-BJP mood in the country before the Lok Sabha poll in 2019 and that has to be exploited by the secular parties in ensuring a minimum poll understanding so that the anti-BJP votes are not divided. Further, the issue of Prime Ministership should be left to be decided only after the 2019 Lok Sabha poll results are known.

This is a difficult and tortured task and this needs leadership with vision to implement this strategy in practice. The three major components of the anti-BJP combination have to initiate the process soon after the state assemblies election results are out on May 19 this year. The process, if started now and tackled with deft handling and deep commitment to the objective, can produce results three years after To start with, the Congress and the JD(U) led by Nitish have to work on the process of mahagathbandhan at national plan giving enough elbow room to the regional players. The hard reality is that the JD(U) and its allies are present only in Hindi speaking states while the Congress is present in all the states, strong or weak and the Congress is the only party which is in a position to take on BJP nationally. Taking that perspective into view, the other secular forces have to allow Congress to play that role in the states where the Congress is the only party which has formidable to strength to take on BJP in the assemblies elections.

In the present round of elections, the Congress is fighting to retain its governments in Kerala and Assam. If Congress is defeated in Kerala at the hands of Left Democratic Front headed by CPI(M) and CPI, that will be victory equally of more committed anti-BJP forces. But if the Congress loses in Assam and BJP wins, that will be a big setback to the secular forces in general and that will embolden BJP to implement its communal agenda in the North East. In Tamil Nadu, BJP is fighting alone and whichever combination AIADMK or DMK-Congress wins on May 16 elections, the BJP is not going to gain. In West Bengal, it is between the TMC and the Left-Congress combination, BJP has no possibility to gain. So in this round of elections, BJP has possibility, if at all, only in Assam.

The next round of assembly elections are in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in 2017 and UP is most important for the BJP.BJP is desperate to improve its position in UP and that is the way for the Party to come near to power after 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In UP, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP will fight on their own and the Congress is also planning to fight independently. All indications suggest that there will be no total alliance against the BJP since both SP and BSP have built solid organizations by now and BJP is finding it difficult to make a breakthrough. So the hard reality is that in UP, the core secular forces at national level can only have understanding with SP and if possible with BSP(it may be difficult) only in the light of the assembly election results. But in Punjab, the situation is different. The Akali Dal-BJP government is in a mess and both the Congress and the AAP are upbeat. The Congress is in an advantageous position now.BJP is in a precarious situation in Punjab due to its association with Akalis. The BJP is sure to fare badly in assembly elections in Punjab.AAP with its anti-BJP stance can be a part of national level anti-BJP combination but that will be possible only after the Punjab elections.

The final round of state assembles elections before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh where the Congress is the major party confronting BJP. The Congress has to weaken the BJP in its strongholds in MP, Gujarat and Rajasthan and it makes sense for the Congress to have adjustments with the BSP and also with the Left in these states in a limited manner. For the Congress, substantial gains in these states elections are important if the momentum has to be generated for the 2019 elections. Some adjustments with the other anti-BJP parties which have limited base support, should be done in the greater interest of strengthening the anti-BJP front.

The road map of this anti-BJP combination for 2019 poll is such:

A: The Congress, JD(U) led by Nitish Kumar and the Left combination will be the core group. Rahul Gandhi, Nitish Kumar, Sitaram Yechury and Sudhakar Reddy will be the main coordinators of BJP Mukt Bharat in 2019. B: This core group will have negotiations with the other non-BJP parties which include AAP, Trinamool Congress, BJD, DMK, AIADMK, Samajwadi Party and BSP. The Congress Party vice president Rahul Gandhi has to organize the Congress allies of erstwhile United Progressive Alliance so that the combination becomes stronger. The regional parties have their own interests and they may not fully agree to what the core group parties are visualizing. Some adjustments have to be made to accommodate these parties with the prime objective of keeping BJP out of power.

The Indian nation is in peril. The concept of India as a nation is at stake. Allowing the Narendra Modi led government to continue beyond the present term till May 2019, will lead to further communalization of the society and the ghost dance of the crony capitalists. Time is running out, The combined secular and democratic voice must chant Yes We Can and that has to be done in 2019 Lok Sabha elections itself. (IPA Service)