The occasion was a gathering of opposition leaders to participate in the unveiling of a statue of Muthuvel Karunanidhi, patriarch of the DMK. MK Stalin, president of the party, took them all by surprise by announcing that Rahul Gandhi, president of the Congress, would be their prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, not realising that was just what the BJP wanted.

Having lost all the five State Assembly elections earlier this month, the BJP was planning to make the coming parliamentary poll a presidential style affair, Narendra Modi vs Rahul Gandhi. It could distract attention from its multiple failures and project Rahul as a dynast unfit for the office of Prime Minister.

That is why the leading lights of the opposition wanted the issue of Prime Minister taken up only on the day of counting of votes. Stalin, unlike his late lamented father Karunanidhi, lacks the experience and maturity to play a significant role in national politics. He justifies his out-of-turn proposal to project Rahul as the Prime Minister candidate of the alliance of secular opposition parties on the ground the Congress wrested power from three BJP-ruled States in the Hindi heartland under his leadership.

Moreover, it was Karunanidhi who helped the Congress stage a comeback after the Emergency fiasco and failure of the Janata Party government by giving a call, “Daughter of Nehru, come and give a stable government,” in 1980. Similarly, it was Karunanidhi’s idea to form the United Progressive Alliance which defeated the BJP government of Atal Behari Vajapee and brought the Congress back to power in 2004.

Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and leader of the Telugu Desam Party who was seated on the dais watched in stunned silence when Stalin made the proposal to project Rahul as leader of the alliance.

Lanka Dinkar, national spokesman of the TDP, responded saying, “Our party and our leader believe the TDP should play a role in the formation of the alliance, but will not say anything on the leadership issue because our focus is not on who will be the Prime Minister candidate but on defeating the BJP.”

Regretting Stalin’s announcement, a Trinamul Congress MP said his party and other opposition parties believe any decision on the prime ministerial candidate should be made only after the Lok Sabha election results are announced.

Upset by Stalin’s unilateral announcement without seeking their consent, several opposition leaders did not show up at the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The damage to opposition unity caused by the DMK chief was partially controlled by senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad reiterating that the question of leadership will be decided only after the result of the Lok Sabha election was known. Had that assurance come from Rahul, it would have cleared the air completely.