JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy swore in as the Karnataka Chief Minister at a grand ceremony that saw a massive horde of leaders and regional satraps in rare attendance. Present at the event was every possible anti-Narendra Modi leader, whose only aim now is to see the leader fall in the Lok Sabha polls to be held next year. Enemy of my enemy is friend, indeed. Kumaraswamy took the oath outside the majestic Vidhana Soudha, seat of power in the state. G Parameshwara, state Congress chief and the party's Dalit face, was sworn in as Kumaraswamy's deputy.
It was a sight to remember. Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati- two separate poles of the politics of Uttar Pradesh, waved together to the crowds. Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shook hands with Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a leader she has fought all her life. Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) contemporary face Tejaswi Yadav, son of Lalu Prasad Yadav, touched Sonia Gandhi's feet. But it was Sonia, who stole the moment with her affectionate knock on the forehead with Mayawati. Also fleeting in the medley was Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. While it remains unclear what kind of unity the opposition will form, it is evident that the otherwise sworn enemies have not formed a unity given that they are faced by a certain existential crisis in lieu of Narendra Modi-Amit Shah's BJP.
The Opposition has realised that the fragmentation of anti-BJP votes enabled Narendra Modi machine to convert their robust vote share into a majority of seats. Which is why, basic mathematics suggests that if all major non-BJP forces come together, the much hated Modi government will come to a halt. Also keeping the hopes alive of the Opposition camp is the recent electoral trends, what with the BJP barely winning in Gujarat, and its defeat in the bypolls in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The freshly minted unification believes that anti-incumbency is finally setting in. They believe they can mount a campaign based on Modi's failure.
