After both Houses of Parliament finally adjourned for the day by lunch, a group of Opposition leaders huddled in a corner of central hall over dosa and cups of coffee. Present were MPs from the Congress, Left parties, JD(U) and a prominent NCP leader .
The coffee took unusually long to finish and most let it run cold. This is because while discussing strategy on how to take on the government, there were some hard facts which hit them .
A Congress leader who doesn't want to be named, but someone considered close to Sonia Gandhi said, "Do not underestimate Modi. He is today what Congress was in its peak . Walks a dozen steps ahead."
Behind the semblance of Opposition unity, worrying signals were beginning to come out .
The first indication that the government was waiting to break up Opposition unity came on the first day of Parliament . It was the day Mamata was to march with Shiv Sena to the president. Behind the scenes, it was devised that a discussion on demonetisation will take place in Rajya Sabha on Monday, November 21. Suddenly the government stepped in to say it has accepted Opposition demand and will begin discussion immediately . This caught many by surprise, especially the Trinamool Congress which was scheduled to begin its march shortly .
But what is bothering the Opposition is the fact that as time passes, the queues were getting shorter. More and more relaxations were announced at the government's daily briefings. But more significantly, as the days passed the queues started getting more orderly.
The Opposition is aware that the Government is biding its time, closely watching and waiting for things to improve. The Prime minister is likely to intervene and he is expected to make an emotional speech and tear apart the Opposition .
What the Opposition leaders huddled in central hall also pointed out was that the parties which are most vocal are the ones who were caught in some corruption allegation or the other . Their credibility quotient is still very low, Modi is bound to cash in on that .
Nitish Kumar is smarter than them in that sense . Realising that the issue could go either way, he prefers that others raise the pitch while he comes across as a leader who is willing to forgo his political differences for the sake of cleaning up the system.
There is now a rethink in the Opposition strategy . Not to question the demonetisation policy per se . But to focus the attack on PM's silence from day one in Parliament . And shift the focus to rural areas
What does the Opposition fear and what is the government likely to do? The Opposition is aware that Modi would have something up his sleeves to blunt the anguish in the streets . The possibility of a cut in income tax and depositing money into Jan Dhan accounts just before polls could the PM's magic pill .
What's made it worse for the main Opposition is that both Mamata and Kejriwal seemed to have stolen the show from them
And the many within the Opposition now feel they need to smell the coffee before it turns completely completely cold
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