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NEW DELHI: With Lok Sabha elections just months away, the Congress on Sunday finally began seat-sharing talks with the constituents of opposition bloc INDIA.
The move comes after elaborate internal consultations among senior party leaders.
Seat-sharing has remained a sticky issue among the parties of the anti-BJP bloc and has caused some tensions in the recent past.
According to sources, senior Congress leaders have been instructed to reach out to other leaders of the 28-party opposition grouping to discuss a seat-sharing plan for the coming general election.
They added that formal negotiations for seat-sharing with Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab and Delhi will begin on Monday.
The Congress’s five-member committee on seat-sharing – which has Mukul Wasnik as convener and senior leaders Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel among members – has already held internal consultations with state Congress chiefs and handed over its findings to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, PTI has reported.
Notably, the opposition bloc has agreed to have a single opposition candidate in Lok Sabha election seats against the BJP in a bid to defeat it in 2024.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar are seen as frontrunners for the INDIA leadership.
Tricky talks
The seat-sharing talks will be a tricky business for Congress in certain states where it does not have pre-poll alliances with the local parties.
For instance, in West Bengal, cracks in INDIA have already started appearing after Mamata Banerjee’s TMC offered just two seats to the Congress. The grand old party responded by saying that it does not need “Mamata’s mercy”.
In states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Jharkhand, the talks could be smoother due to Congress’s existing tie-ups with DMK, JD(U)-RJD and JMM respectively.
Besides West Bengal, the Congress may face some difficulties in contentious states like Kerala, Delhi and Punjab.
In Kerala, the Congress has 19 of the 20 MPs from the state and having an arrangement with CPM seems bleak as it would have to rest its sitting MPs.
In Punjab, the state units of both AAP and Congress are confident of their victory and do not wish to hold any arrangement.
Moreover, AAP and Congress have often been at loggerheads when it comes to state-level alliances.
In Uttar Pradesh too, things do not appear to be well between Congress and Samajwadi Party.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is still upset with Congress for not giving him any seats in the recent Madhya Pradesh assembly election and over the statements of Kamal Nath against him.
However, the party is holding seat-sharing talks with all partners while hoping for some middle path in order to strengthen the opposition against the BJP, PTI reported quoting sources.
The sources add that the party has decided to complete the seat-sharing arrangements with other parties of the opposition by this month-end.
(With inputs from PTI)
The move comes after elaborate internal consultations among senior party leaders.
Seat-sharing has remained a sticky issue among the parties of the anti-BJP bloc and has caused some tensions in the recent past.
According to sources, senior Congress leaders have been instructed to reach out to other leaders of the 28-party opposition grouping to discuss a seat-sharing plan for the coming general election.
They added that formal negotiations for seat-sharing with Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab and Delhi will begin on Monday.
The Congress’s five-member committee on seat-sharing – which has Mukul Wasnik as convener and senior leaders Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel among members – has already held internal consultations with state Congress chiefs and handed over its findings to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, PTI has reported.
Notably, the opposition bloc has agreed to have a single opposition candidate in Lok Sabha election seats against the BJP in a bid to defeat it in 2024.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar are seen as frontrunners for the INDIA leadership.
Tricky talks
The seat-sharing talks will be a tricky business for Congress in certain states where it does not have pre-poll alliances with the local parties.
For instance, in West Bengal, cracks in INDIA have already started appearing after Mamata Banerjee’s TMC offered just two seats to the Congress. The grand old party responded by saying that it does not need “Mamata’s mercy”.
In states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Jharkhand, the talks could be smoother due to Congress’s existing tie-ups with DMK, JD(U)-RJD and JMM respectively.
Besides West Bengal, the Congress may face some difficulties in contentious states like Kerala, Delhi and Punjab.
In Kerala, the Congress has 19 of the 20 MPs from the state and having an arrangement with CPM seems bleak as it would have to rest its sitting MPs.
In Punjab, the state units of both AAP and Congress are confident of their victory and do not wish to hold any arrangement.
Moreover, AAP and Congress have often been at loggerheads when it comes to state-level alliances.
In Uttar Pradesh too, things do not appear to be well between Congress and Samajwadi Party.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is still upset with Congress for not giving him any seats in the recent Madhya Pradesh assembly election and over the statements of Kamal Nath against him.
However, the party is holding seat-sharing talks with all partners while hoping for some middle path in order to strengthen the opposition against the BJP, PTI reported quoting sources.
The sources add that the party has decided to complete the seat-sharing arrangements with other parties of the opposition by this month-end.
(With inputs from PTI)
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