The trickiest issue is about accommodating the Congress in regional party bastions. The Opposition's national vision should be about more federalism, not about uniformity. Regional parties can then promise better jobs and benefits based on their economic strengths. But with states getting more economic powers, the responsibility for delivering economic results will devolve too.
The issue of economic challenges will be partly addressed by adopting a common minimum programme. If the Congress can promise a leader, they can accept - but after the elections - they may well be willing to play ball. The Opposition knows that UPA lasted 10 years because an anchor party was holding it together. The rest of the issues could be handled simply. Then it would not matter if the next coalition lasts two or five years, for states are not left at the mercy of the Centre depending on which government is in power there. If the opposition parties can come together and say that they will change the Constitution to devolve more powers to states and local bodies, that would be something new. There is one issue on which all opposition parties can unite, which is something the Modi government, with its centralising tendencies, is ill-equipped: promoting greater federalism. To say that we are coming together to oust Modi, who remains popular, or to save democracy or secularism, is hardly a strong narrative to carry to voters. With no leader and no common minimum agenda, there is no reason for voters to think a coalition will deliver.
If the last question is answered well and credibly, the rest can be handled with some degree of accommodation and compromise. Most importantly, the Opposition has no compelling story to tell the electorate why a hotch-potch bunch of regional and national parties like the Congress and the Left can do better than Modi and BJP. The Left cannot ally with the Congress in Kerala the Bharat Rashtra Samithi cannot do so in Telangana, and AAP can't be seen to ally with it in Delhi and Punjab. *There is the real issue of the political challenges in accommodating the Congress in some states where regional parties are in power on their terms. *They don't present an alternative to BJP in terms of a national vision
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