INDIA battles impasse on seat talks, desertions before polls

Although the nomination process for the first phase of polling of the general elections has started, the Congress and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal have not been able to reach a deal on sharing seats in Bihar, one of the key north Indian states with 40 Lok Sabha seats.

Although the nomination process for the first phase of polling of the general elections has started, the Congress and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal have not been able to reach a deal on sharing seats in Bihar, one of the key north Indian states with 40 Lok Sabha seats.

In the past six months, the bloc of 40 parties that rules nine states has not been able to arrange a single rally with all constituents in attendance. (ANI)

The RJD has unilaterally announced candidates for all four seats going to the polls in the first phase. Congress insiders pointed out that the inclusion of Pappu Yadav, alias Rajesh Ranjan, into their fold has miffed the RJD brass and seat-sharing talks have come to a virtual standstill.

A senior official close to RJD said, “Pappu was all set to join RJD but Congress poached him.”

The Yadav community is considered a dedicated vote bank of the RJD and Rajesh Ranjan, a Yadav, has always been an adversary of the RJD.

In West Bengal, the ruling Trinamool Congress pulled the plug on the opposition INDIA bloc and none of its leaders joined Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra despite Congress’ request to Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee to join it. The Congress insisted that Banerjee was invited but she said, “As a gesture of courtesy, did they (Congress) let me know that they are coming to Bengal for the yatra? I am not aware of it.”

If Bihar and West Bengal paint a fragmented picture of the INDIA bloc at this stage, then at the national level “there is limited coordination between the allies,” said a non-Congress leader who declined to be named.

The INDIA grouping held its last summit in December. Now, with the alliance facing teething problems in many states, there is no sign of a structured mechanism of crisis management. Even the coordination committee that was formed to tackle such issues have not met since September.

In Maharashtra, where there is an existing alliance between Shiv Sena (UBT), the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Congress, the parties have started announcing candidates individually, but the three parties are yet to come together to formally announce a seat-sharing pact. “The five-phase Maharashtra election starts from April 19. It would have been better for the political optics to have a formal seat-sharing in place,” a Congress leader from Mumbai said, seeking anonymity.

In states such as Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress has managed to clinch a seat pact with the Samajwadi Party, which is considered a major gain for the INDIA group, there hasn’t been a single joint rally so far of the two allies.

“It is a difficult situation. We have distributed seats but there is no cohesive effort to reach the people. Without joint campaign, how do we transfer each other’s votes for our candidates? The political messaging is missing,” said a Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal have polling in all seven phases.

The only time the coordination committee of the INDIA bloc met was on September 13 last year. In that meeting, hosted at NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s residence, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal had announced, “A series of public rallies of INDIA allies starting with one in Bhopal would be held.” He also said, “The seat sharing would be finalised at the earliest.”

In the past six months, the bloc of 40 parties that rules nine states has not been able to arrange a single rally with all constituents in attendance. In the Jan Vishwas rally in Patna on March 3 organized by the RJD, only Congress, SP, Left parties and the local alliance partners were present.

The next one in Mumbai on March 17, after the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, saw a much larger attendance with Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), Shiv Sena (UBT), RJD, PDP, DMK and NC leaders.

But an important ally, West Bengal chief minister Banerjee, skipped both the meetings. She also dealt a huge blow to the Congress in West Bengal by putting up candidates in all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

“After the general elections, if the Congress does its job and defeats the BJP on a substantial number of seats, the Trinamool Congress will very much be a part of the front that believes and fights for the Constitution and plurality,” Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien said last month, indicating the alliance is over between the two parties.

The bloc, once a solid pack of 26 parties, has considerably weakened after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar pulled the plug on the alliance in Bihar and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chowdhury switched sides to join the National Democratic alliance led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In states where the Congress still has possible partners, the shape of the seat pacts is still sketchy.

In West Bengal, the party has left some seats for the Left bloc, but has not announced a formal pact. At least five district presidents of the Congress have objected to this and wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi.

“It must be noted here that in West Bengal, in perspective of previous elections, (a) the Congress party secured 6% of the total votes same as CPIM [Communist Party of India (Marxist)], (b) In State Legislative Assembly Congress Nil and CPIM is also Nil, (c) In Loksabha Congress has 2 seats and CPIM Nil. But unfortunately CPIM has forcibly declared the names of their candidates for the upcoming 2024 Loksabha election so far. If INC is willing to enter into an alliance with CPIM for said election, such alliance should be respectful for the Congress Party. Otherwise we shall contest alone rather than lowering the image and relevancy of the Congress Party in the State of West Bengal,” the letter said.

“There is no center to hold the alliance together, since the Congress itself is rife with issues. There is no overarching ideology that acts as a glue as well. The ongoing desertions of various leaders to join BJP only adds to the woes. The diffidence about winnability is making allies look after their self-interest rather than seeing themselves collectively as a part of an opposition coalition,” said Banuchandar Nagarajan, an analyst.

Afzal Amanullah, former Bihar cadre IAS officer said, “The Congress is not clear on how many seats to contest. It doesn’t have candidates. They are searching for candidates. Poaching of Pappu Yadav was a dampener especially when RJD is trying to give good fight against the BJP on caste calculations.”