It seems that INDIA bloc is trying to make up for the lost time and therefore is moving fast with discussions on seat-sharing, scheduling meetings cheek-by-jowl in multiple states.
Midst growing resentment among partners of the opposition alliance, the Congress is keen to conclude seat sharing talks at the earliest, a senior leader said.
Particularly the SP, the TMC and JD (U) have expressed resentment over the delay in talks. The partners have sought to underline with the Congress if enough time is not given to INDIA alliance Lok Sabha candidates then it would be difficult to evolve chemistry between workers of the alliance partners at the ground level which alone can take up the BJP challenge. The BJP has its campaigning running as RSS workers are going door to door distributing Akshat for the launch of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya on 22 Janaury, a senior SP leader said.
The BJP has huge resources and a well- knit electoral machinery while we have to ready taking local leaders and workers of all the alliance partners, he said adding that it requires time.
While a meeting is on way in Mumbai between the Shiv Sea UBT, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress in Maharashtra, one more is scheduled Tuesdayevening to divide the 80 seats of Uttar Pradesh. That will be held at 6 pm at the Delhi residence of senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik.
Not a single one of these negotiations are expected to be easy for the Congress.
While there is no love lost between the party and the Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, talks with MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) allies in Maharashtra also are expected to come with its own set of challenges.
The Shiv Sena UBT has made it clear that as the “biggest party” in the alliance, it expects no less than 23 seats.
“This is Maharashtra, and Shiv Sena is the biggest party here… We have always said that Shiv Sena has always been fighting on 23 seats in the Lok Sabha elections including Dadra and Nagar Haveli and that will be firm,” senior party leader Sanjay Raut had said.
This would leave exactly 25 seats to be divided between Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress, which has got a limited say, given the minimum heft it has in the state.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the Congress won only 44 seats in the 288-member assembly — way lower than either of its allies.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party is not expected to be in a forgiving mood given the state Congress’s refusal to share any seats in the assembly elections. State party chief Kamal Nath had refused to honour the central leadership’s commitment for six seats in the state.
The ripples were very public. Akhilesh Yadav’s swipes at the Congress were followed by the party’s crushing defeat in the three heartland states and the sacking of Kamal Nath from the top post.
The situation is further complicated by the Congress’s poor performance in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party considers it liability since the assembly polls of 2017, when the two parties contested as allies and got trounced.
The Samajwadi Party, which was ruling the state since 2012, is yet to gain enough ground to defeat the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government.
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