[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Kicking off the first concrete effort to unite non-NDA parties in the battle to halt the Modi-Shah juggernaut from rolling the BJP back to power at the Centre in the 2019 general elections, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi hosted a dinner at her residence on Tuesday night that saw the participation of leaders from 20 Opposition parties.

The ‘dinner diplomacy’ by Sonia, who remains the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) despite stepping down as Congress president to make way for her son Rahul a few months ago, is reminiscent of her efforts to stitch together a coalition of “like-minded parties” back in February 2004.

The dinner she had hosted at her residence on February 5, 2004 – days after then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee decided to call for early general elections in the hope that his ‘India Shining’ slogan would help the BJP-led NDA retain power – had marked the first step of the Congress’ revival plan for the hustings following successive drubbings in state polls. The situation today is unarguably grimmer for the Congress, led now by her son, which holds power in just three states while the BJP has painted 21 of India’s provinces saffron.

With her dinner diplomacy, Sonia hopes to strengthen ties between existing allies in the UPA while scouting for new ones; an effort that is touted as the first real step towards unifying the Opposition.

The dinner also signalled unequivocally that though her son may be the Congress president now, it is only her stature (and perhaps the added fear of political wilderness) that can act as the glue that can bring arch-rivals like the CPM and Trinamool or the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party or even the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) together in a central coalition even if these parties continue to fight against each other at the provincial level.

In attendance at Sonia’s dinner party were leaders of existing and estranged UPA allies – NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK’s Kanimozhi, Trinamool Congress’ Sudip Bandopadhyay, JMM’s Hemant Soren, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharati, National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav, BSP’s SC Mishra, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Ajit Singh – as well as new-found friends AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal, RSP leader NK Premachandran, Hindustan Awam Morcha’s Jitan Ram Manjhi, among others. The CPI (M) – battered after losing Tripura, its citadel of 25 years, to the BJP earlier this month – also seems to have shed its impractical stubbornness to not ally with the Congress and sent leaders Mohammed Salim and TK Rangarajan for the dinner while the CPI was represented by veteran leader D Raja.

While Sonia played the host, her party was represented by chief Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, veterans Mallikarjun Kharge , Ahmed Patel and other senior leaders.

Sonia’s dinner diplomacy comes days after she said at a public function that “like-minded parties” needed to forget their rivalries to come together for the country’s sake. Earlier, soon after Rahul had taken over as Congress president, Sonia had told MPs from her party: “As Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, I will work with the Congress President and other colleagues in discussions with likeminded, political parties to ensure that in the next election, the BJP is defeated and India is restored to a democratic, inclusive, secular, tolerant and economically progressive path.”

Though details of the discussions that actually took place at Sonia’s dinner are not known, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted about the evening saying:[/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text]The BJP, still riding on the supposed popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has continued to crush the Congress, as well as other Opposition parties, in successive assembly polls. However, following the scare in Gujarat and successive defeats in Lok Sabha by-polls, the latest being the shockers from Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies – which had sent now chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively to the Lok Sabha in 2014 – it appears that the Congress is hopeful of a political and electoral re-alignment of that may not be very favourable for the saffron alliance in 2019.

With Sonia’s dinner clearly being a hit with Opposition parties, the game, as they say, is now on for the 2019 Big Fight. The challenge for the Congress is to sustain the dialogue and momentum built by the party’s matriarch.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]