Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 19: Unhappy with the Congress party’s dilly-dallying over finalising seat-sharing issues, several other non-BJP parties are preparing to go alone in the coming Lok Sabha elections after the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab have rejected any formula within the INDIA bloc.
The latest blow to the INDIA bloc has come from the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, while the People’s Democratic Party of the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and the National Conference of another former chief minister Omar Abdullah have also announced to finalise their candidates without any further waiting for the INDIA bloc, even while asserting that remained a part of the united opposition bloc.
According to sources, Samajwadi party has decided not to join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra” in UP till the seat-sharing formula was finalised. The sources said the SP was only willing to let Congress contest on 15 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress had won 52 seats across India — very few of them in in the northeast or the Hindi belt. In UP, it won only one seat, Raebareli, by the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi as her son Rahul Gandhi also lost to Smriti Irani in Amethi.
In 2019, Samajwadi had refrained from contesting in Amethi and Rae Bareli as a gesture of courtesy toward the Congress. However, this time around, the party has taken a firm stand, offering 15 seats to the Congress and are adamant that the Congress can’t fight on any other seats if the alliance stands. The ball is now in Congress’s court, and the response is awaited. “We have had several rounds of discussions, exchanged many lists. When the seat-sharing is done, Samajwadi Party will participate in their Nyaya Yatra,” the party chief Akhilesh Yadav said.
The “Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra,” now in its 37th day, has been a rallying point for the opposition against the ruling BJP. Congress leaders, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, are scheduled to address a public rally in Babuganj. Jairam Ramesh, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, had expressed optimism about Akhilesh Yadav’s participation in the Yatra. Mr Yadav had earlier said he might join the Yatra in Raebareli when it enter Mrs Gandhi’s constituency from Amethi this week.
Ajay Rai, the Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit chief, had earlier said the party should get around two dozen seats it had won in the 2009 general elections. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress are partners in the opposition INDIA bloc.
The SP chief’s announcement came barely a couple of weeks after he wrote to Mr Kharge to assure him about his joining the Yatra either in Amethi or Rae Bareli, while wishing success for the UP leg of the Yatra. On February 6, Akhilesh had received the Congress leadership’s invitation to join Rahul’s cross-country Yatra that entered UP on February 16. While asserting that he will join it in Amethi or Raebareli, the SP chief also claimed that the INDIA alliance along with his party’s strategy centred on “PDA” – Picchde (backward classes or OBCs), Dalits and Alpsankhyak (minorities) – will create a “new history of victory.”
Speaking to reporters in Lucknow on Monday, Akhilesh said the seat-sharing talks with the INDIA partner Congress were continuing. “Several rounds of dialogues have happened and several lists (of seats) have been exchanged. When seat distribution will be finalised, the SP will join the Congress’s Nyaya Yatra,” he said. Akhilesh’s move clearly seems to be aimed at putting pressure on the Congress in the course of the seat-sharing exercise. Dealing a blow to the INDIA bloc in UP recently, RLD president Jayant Chaudhary, Akhilesh’s key UP ally, crossed over to the NDA.
Ms Mufti’s PDP also said on Monday its parliamentary board would shortly decide on candidates for the union territory’s six Lok Sabha seats, which are split between the BJP and the National Conference. “Since they (the National Conference) has already taken a decision… we will discuss it. There will be deliberations and a future course of action will be decided (soon),” the PDP’s Suhail Bukhari said.
The PDP’s comment about going it alone comes days after Farooq Abdullah, whose National Conference is also an INDIA member, made similar remarks. Shortly after the senior leader’s remarks, though, his son, Omar Abdullah stressed the NC “was part of INDIA and still is…”
Curiously, the PDP has also insisted it remains “firm in our commitment to unity and our alliance…” “Disregard fabricated news about PDP breaking ties with INDIA alliance. We stand firm in our commitment to unity and our alliance. Don’t be misled by malicious misinformation!” the party said on X.
Sources said this call was based on an internal assessment that said the party could win at least three seats on its own. As a result, sources added, the NC is unwilling to give up seats, either to the Congress or the PDP, underlining challenges for INDIA bloc members in reaching seat-share deals.
