In INDIA's Fresh Unity Push, Tejashwi Yadav's 'Rahul Gandhi As PM' Hurdle

The Opposition unity and growing warmth - in full display as they pushed a vice-presidential election on the BJP - has had a dampener thrown on it. The one responsible was Tejashwi Yadav, with a comment on whom he wants to see as the Prime Minister in 2029. Mr Yadav said he is keen on seeing Congress's Rahul Gandhi, whom he calls elder brother, in the top job and would work to that end.

Prompt reactions were not unexpected. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal was at the forefront of dissenters in the Opposition bloc, for which the top post has been a thorny issue in every general election.

Mr Kejriwal is not keen on being part of INDIA. Sources said he had agreed to back the Opposition candidate for Vice President post - former ISRO scientist Sudershan Reddy --- only after a request from Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

After signing the letter, Mr Kejriwal apparently told Trinamool's Derek O'Brien that he could support an Opposition candidate, but not one from the INDIA bloc - in effect dissociating from the alliance.
The other expected dissenter, Trinamool Congress, for now, has kept a firm lid on its sentiments -- expected to be strong given Mamata Banerjee's ambition.

Sources said Tejashwi Yadav's comment has irked Abhishek Banerjee, despite his current project to work on Opposition unity.

Mr Banerjee has been active since being elected as the party's leader for the Lok Sabha and has been maintaining contact with Rahul Gandhi with great sincerity. Mr Banerjee's aunt, who is also the Trinamool chief, shares a very cordial relation with Yadav Junior.

But sources said the party considers the announcement extremely premature.

The party feels it is time to focus on elections closer home, sources said. The assembly polls in Bihar are due at the end of this year, and next year, it is the turn of Bengal and Assam.

Abhishek Banerjee, despite his growing rapport with Mr Gandhi - the two sat together at the Bloc's recent meeting and had a tete-e-tete - believes with parliament in session, there are more pressing issues than PM candidate of 2029. The SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of Bihar voter list and statehood for Kahmir, he feels, require more immediate attention, sources said.  

Besides, like AAP, the Trinamool also does not consider itself a part of the INDIA bloc, Mamata Banerjee has made clear since the alliance was formed. The Congress is technically Trinamool's political rival in the state but the Grand Old Party, for long, has not been in a position to rain on Trinamool's parade.

What has ruined any possibility of any understanding at the Centre is the Congress's alliance with the Left. Ms Banerjee made it clear earlier that her Trinamool is open to joining the alliance, provided the Congress snaps its ties with the CPM in Bengal.

The rest of the dissenters, for now, are waiting in the wings.