In Bengal, Congress has not yet reached a seat-sharing agreement with Trinamool Congress.
New Delhi:
Congress may have succeeded in securing its alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), but its troubles are not over yet. The main opposition party is racing against time to reach a seat-sharing understanding in Bengal and Maharashtra. The general elections are just a few months away, and the India Bloc has not yet launched its campaign against the BJP’s formidable election machinery.
bengal question
In Bengal, the Congress is facing a tough challenge of bringing back the Trinamool Congress. After talks with Congress on seat sharing failed, Trinamool chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier announced that she would contest the elections alone. The state Congress unit led by veteran leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is understood to have bargained for around 10 seats, but Trinamool offered just two seats.
Following Mr Chaudhary’s outburst against the Trinamool chief, in which he called him an “opportunist”, Ms Banerjee last month said the Congress had rejected all her proposals. “We have decided to contest the elections alone in Bengal,” he said, adding that any decision on the alliance will be taken after the elections.
Since then, the Congress leadership has been trying to woo Ms Banerjee back, with Rahul Gandhi saying Mr Choudhary’s sharp remarks against the Trinamool chief “will not make any difference”.
There is no consensus on seats between the two parties yet. Mr Chaudhary has been continuously targeting Trinamool and has claimed that there are differences within the party on whether it should form an alliance with the Congress or not. “They are in a dilemma. They are not officially saying that the process of forming the alliance is over. The first dilemma is that a section of the party believes that if they contest the elections alone without the India alliance, the West Minorities of Bengal will be harmed. Vote against them. One section of TMC wants the alliance to continue. Another section is in another dilemma that if the alliance is given more importance in Bengal, then Modi government will file ED, and CBI against them. Due to these two dilemmas, he claimed, “TMC has not been able to take any clear decision.”
Due to the tussle, Ms Banerjee did not attend the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra passing through Bengal, depriving the Indian faction of the opportunity to showcase the alliance’s potential to strengthen the BJP’s political base over the underlying conflict within the opposition front. Helps in countering attacks. With the understanding now in place, both parties will face the huge challenge of quickly formulating a joint campaign plan and reaching out to the voters.
What about Maharashtra?
In Maharashtra too, the India Bloc has not yet announced its seat-sharing plan. Discussions are in the final stages between the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Balasaheb Uddhav Thackeray) and the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the NCP.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is understood to have spoken to Mr Thackeray on the impasse. Sources say that Congress wants to contest elections on three of the six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai – Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North West. Mr Thackeray reportedly wants to contest 18 Lok Sabha seats in the state, including four in Mumbai – Mumbai South, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East and Mumbai South Central. The two leaders held talks for an hour to find a way out of the impasse.
Congress has also suffered a setback in Maharashtra with the exit of three senior leaders – Milind Deora, Ashok Chavan and Baba Siddiqui.
State Congress chief Nana Patole has said there is no disagreement within the alliance and asserted that the MVA will perform well in the upcoming elections. “There is no disagreement or dispute on the issue of seat sharing among the MVA allies. It is the ruling grand alliance which is in turmoil due to lack of coordination. The people of Maharashtra will show their place to the BJP and its allies in the coming elections.” ” Mr Patole said.
A major challenge for the India Bloc in Maharashtra is that the two main parties, Shiv Sena and NCP, have split and their leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar have lost the party name and election symbol. A major task will be to spread awareness among voters about their new name and election symbol to ensure that people, especially in rural and backward areas, know on which election symbol they have to vote.
Once the seat-sharing is finalised, the three parties will have to launch a joint campaign to take on the BJP. Since the elections are just a few months away, they are on a very tight deadline.
what is sorted
After months of political posturing and hard bargaining, the Congress has managed to finalize a seat-sharing deal with India’s two major forces – SP and AAP. Congress has got 17 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. In return, it has given one seat to the Akhilesh Yadav led party in Madhya Pradesh. The grand old party with AAP has finalized the seat sharing for Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Chandigarh and Goa. Both parties have agreed to contest the elections alone in Punjab, where they are arch rivals.
AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that there is no enmity between the allies regarding the Punjab Agreement. Congress will contest elections on three out of seven seats in Delhi. Whereas in Gujarat, Aam Aadmi Party will contest elections on two out of 26 seats. In Haryana, Congress and AAP will contest elections on 8 and one seat respectively. Under the agreement, Chandigarh seat and two seats in Goa have gone to Congress’s account.
However, a major challenge on these seats will be to balance the sentiments of grassroots leaders with the larger goal of taking on the BJP. For example, AAP’s capture of Bharuch seat, the stronghold of veteran Congress leader late Ahmed Patel, has evoked strong reactions. Congress leaders, including Mr Patel’s son Faisal Ahmed Patel, have said the party must retain the seat to win alone and Congress workers are upset. While AAP has said that it will soon sit with the Congress to chalk out a strategy on this key seat, it will not be easy to reach an agreement.
