NEW DELHI: Congress and other opposition parties have decided to leave the issue of a prime ministerial candidate for the post-election phase, acknowledging it is too divisive a subject to be taken up in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Amid several rounds of discussions in the opposition camp, Congress sources said the entire focus is on forging a cohesive unity among parties in the anti-BJP camp. “We don’t want to get into it now. It is very divisive… the issue of PM candidate creates confusion and hurts unity,” a source said on Friday.

Sources said opposition parties have clinched a “strategic understanding” that coordination among them is a must to achieve their prime objective of defeating BJP in 2019 elections. Also, talks on alliances in key states are under way.

The assertion from Congress quarters comes even as discussions are ongoing. While Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi as well as other party leaders on Wednesday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar held talks with BSP leader Mayawati recently.

The competing claims of a “federal front” mooted by Mamata and Congress’s stewardship of the UPA had made the leadership issue vexed. The understanding reached now is intended to put the issue on hold.

The no-confidence motion in Parliament on July 20 too saw a joint opposition mount a spirited attack on the Modi government, which was a rare performance since BJP captured power in 2014.

While working out a consensus on a PM candidate in an opposition camp teeming with ambitions is near impossible, there are some who believe that going into the polls without a “face” will allow regional leaders to maximize their appeal with voters by projecting themselves as in the running for the top job.

Though the opposition has cited alliances as the best strategy to pool fragmented vote-banks against BJP, the anti-saffron camp would run into the obvious challenge of a lack of a leader against saffron strongman Narendra Modi – who relishes the idea of a presidential election. The BJP battle cry could easily be “Modi vs Who”.

AICC sources, however, argued a joint opposition would run a strong campaign revolving around the “failures of Modi government” – farmers, Dalits, jobs, small business – to counter the rival’s personality-oriented appeal. Congress believes the 2019 election will be determined by the performance of BJP in Uttar Pradesh , Bihar and Maharashtra – states that account for 168 Lok Sabha seats where BJP and allies won 146 seats. “If we can seal the alliances properly in these three states, then Modi can forget about returning as PM,” a senior leader said.

Congress insiders said talks were going smoothly among the allies – BSP, SP, NCP and Congress — in these states where BJP partners JD(U) and Shiv Sena are appearing restive. When a senior AICC leader was asked if SP and BSP were offering Congress only two seats – Amethi and Rae Bareli — he chuckled, “That is not the discussion we are having.”

