People may say what Congress president Sonia Gandhi is trying to do is akin to the late Jai Prakash Narayan’s attempt against her mother-in-law, the late Indira Gandhi, four decades ago. Friday’s kick-off saw 19 non-BJP parties resolving to go united against the Modi rule. The group expects to widen its net and get in more parties to join them by next general elections. The realisation of Sonia’s JP-like dream will depend on the mighty regional players, who, according to the Congress president, should rise above their political compulsions. Will the unwilling be convinced into being part of the team that proposes to offer an alternative to the BJP in next three years?

But before they could expand into a bigger and cohesive unit to take the fight straight into the BJP citadel, difference of opinion surfaced over the leadership of the front. Mamata Banerjee, who is averse to the idea of her former party (the Congress) taking charge of the movement, doesn’t want a group leader identified, especially when the initiative Sonia has taken and the response evoked puts the former UPA chief in a top position. Instead, Mamata wants a core group to decide the course. She suggested that the parties that fight against the Congress (her All India Trinamool Congress is one of them) be invited to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Her statement could be linked to the Aam Aadmi Party and others, who weren’t invited to the Congress president-led virtual meeting. Regional rivals, the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party, who, along with the Congress and BJP, complete a four-party set-up in Uttar Pradesh, did not attend, apparently because of the upcoming Assembly elections.