New Delhi, Jan 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) With a few months left to go for the big polls, it is not difficult to guess in the prevailing scenario the predominant colour the Lok Sabha may have after the elections.

The BJP with Modi at the helm is in its roaring self and the Opposition's INDIA continues to be a bloc of jousting stars who are busy engaged in securing their own forts.

Everything at the moment seems to be going on the right track for the BJP-led NDA. The big win in the Assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states has reassured the saffron brigade of its strategy at the core of which is the consolidation of Hindu votes. Adding to its popularity are the various populist welfare measures that have benefited people across religious and caste barriers.

The fulfilling of the Ram Temple promise is of course the BJP's ultimate exhibit of its guarantee. The grand 'Pran Pratishta' ceremony on January 22 has already created a wave of devotion among Hindus and Ayodhya, with all the development being pushed there, will have a long-lasting impact upon a huge percentage of the people.

The popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is at its peak. He is the best face of the ruling party and is unmatchable in the country. Morning Consult, the US-based consultancy firm, reports in its 'Global Leader Approval Rating Tracker', 76 per cent of people in India approve of PM Modi's leadership.

Dreaming of undoing this is the conglomerate of 28 parties, named the INDIA bloc, which was formed amid much fanfare and with one core mission: to remove Modi from the Centre. Over five months in its existence, the bloc, however, is facing a grave challenge to its existence, and seems to be derailing.

As predicted, the seat-sharing exercise is proving to be difficult for the bloc. The regional parties are throwing around their weight and pushing the Congress to a corner.

The position of the grand old party, which suffered a major blow in the Hindi heartland in the five-state polls, has weakened within the bloc. Its equations within the bloc have changed. The Congress has been projecting itself as the fulcrum of the alliance. But today, the very partners who had endorsed it as the fulcrum are challenging it during the seat-sharing talks.

Be it West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Bihar, or Maharashtra, the Congress is facing a squeeze situation. The JD(U) in Bihar wants 16 seats for itself, the Samajwadi Party does not want to give too many to the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, the AAP seems to have no plans for accommodation in Delhi and Punjab, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is categorical in its strategy and in fact has expressed its readiness to go solo.

In Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of 80 Lok Sabha seats, the tension within the INDIA bloc, especially between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, is growing.

The latest stumbling block between the two is the shadow of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

The Samajwadi Party has stated that it was against the BSP joining the bloc of 28 Opposition parties. State Congress president Ajay Rai, on the other hand, is said to have urged BSP President Mayawati to seriously consider joining the group. As the tensions simmer between the Congress and the Samajwadis, the seat-sharing formula has got all the more entangled here.

In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was the prime mover of the bloc, looks set to fire away at obstinate allies from the shoulders of the Left. After his party flexed its muscles in Bihar over seat-sharing with alliance partners, Nitish will be in Kolkata on January 17 to participate in the death anniversary of West Bengal's late former CM Jyoti Basu.

Maharashtra, with the second highest number of 48 Lok Sabha seats, next to Uttar Pradesh (80), is another critical state for the INDIA bloc. Despite the brave assertions of the MVA's top leaders, notably Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray and Nana Patole, that seat-sharing is almost done, the three parties have yet to announce their proposed formula.

The bloc partners continue to squabble over seats, with other contenders, especially the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), waiting outside for their share.

A majority of the states with a large number of Lok Sabha seats are seeing a major tug of war between the Congress and its regional allies. The going seems to be tough for the Congress and a majority of its 27 other partners.

The bloc may try to project itself as one platform, but it is losing the plot against BJP's carefully crafted agenda.

Apart from a few meetings, the bloc has had no major political activity to project itself as one force against the ruling dispensation.

With life getting increasingly difficult within the INDIA bloc, the Congress is stepping up its own preparations for the elections. It has formed a publicity committee and constituted a central war room.

Time is ticking fast for the INDIA bloc to sort its differences and emerge as a force ahead of the big fight. The bloc's inability to deliver its promise of a viable opposition may come as disillusionment for those who wanted a fair competition in the electoral battlefield.

(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) More and more issues are emerging, instead of getting resolved, between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) – the two main constituents of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh.

The latest stumbling block between the SP and the Congress is the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

While the SP is against the BSP joining the alliance of 28 Opposition parties, the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) President Ajay Rai, is urging BSP President Mayawati to “seriously consider” joining the group.

SP’s representative in the bloc’s coordination committee, Javed Ali Khan, said, “Ajay Rai has a BJP background. And the Congress must take cognisance of his remarks.”

To complicate matters further, Mayawati recently told her party cadres not to make any remarks against INDIA bloc members since the BSP was now keeping its options open regarding alliances.

This has further irked the SP which suspects that the Congress may bring BSP into the INDIA fold at the last minute.

Tension between the two parties has heightened because of this.

The main problem in Uttar Pradesh is that Akhilesh Yadav is a state leader but is positioning himself as a national leader and wants to command the scenario. The Congress, apparently, does not give much importance to ‘junior partners’ like the SP and the party high command had maintained a studied silence on the Uttar Pradesh situation till now.

Talks on seat sharing have not even taken off. Unity is, therefore, torn apart by one-upmanship between the SP and the Congress.

The debacle in three states in the recent Assembly polls has not brought any change in the Congress’ attitude and it continues to turn a blind eye to problem areas.

After the Congress’ drubbing in the Assembly polls, the SP is also in the “I-told-you-so” mood, conveniently forgetting its own dismal performance in Madhya Pradesh.

“The Congress has no business to put any terms for the alliance in UP. We are the biggest challengers to the BJP and the seat distribution will be in accordance to the political relevance of a party,” said a senior SP leader.

SP spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chaand went on to say that given the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress only deserved two Lok Sabha seats – possibly Rae Bareli and Amethi.

He mentioned that the Congress suffered defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh due to its misguided decisions, weakening the unity of the INDIA bloc.

Fakhrul Hasan Chaand explained that granting more seats would inadvertently assist the BJP and to defeat the saffron party, the Congress should align itself with the SP.

Senior SP leader IP Singh even took to social media platform X on Monday to accuse Priyanka Gandhi of having struck “a deal” with the BJP at the Centre and went on to explain in detail how her choices in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have led to the BJP’s victory and the Congress party’s defeat.

A senior party functionary, known for his proximity to Akhilesh Yadav disclosed that seat-sharing talks will depend on the attitude of the other party.

“We know that we are the only party that can challenge the BJP in UP and other members of the INDIA bloc should also accept this fact,” he said.

However, he said that the SP would remain a part of the Opposition bloc and would even attend the meetings of the alliance.

The Congress has not yet formally placed any demand for seats but state leaders say that they would want a respectable share, keeping in mind their national status.

The Congress dismissed the allegations of the SP as completely unfounded and irrelevant and did not react to its barbs.

So far, there has been no effort from either of the parties to resolve issues and ease tensions between them. However, as a member of the INDIA bloc, SP is keen not to isolate itself among Opposition members but it also wants to remain in the driving seat in Uttar Pradesh – both of which cannot happen simultaneously.

Akhilesh's blow-hot, blow-cold relationship with the Congress and lack of clarity on the issue has left his party cadres perplexed.

“We do not know what our relationship with the Congress is. There is a strange distance between the two parties at the ground level which will make a poll alliance unpalatable during elections, if the differences are not ironed out now. As Opposition parties, we do not speak the same language and neither are we on the same page where major issues are concerned,” said a senior party MLA.

Moreover, Akhilesh Yadav may be an unchallenged leader in his party but he remains confused about his own status, strategies and political moves.

Akhilesh has been peddling soft Hindutva but allows leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya to make anti-Hindu statements often.

The SP continues to rely heavily on its Muslim voters but Akhilesh is equally wary of speaking out on issues related to the minorities.

Source: IANS

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Kolkata, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Since the beginning of the New Year, there are indications of the unity within the Opposition INDIA Bloc in West Bengal being under threat each passing day.

While any kind of understanding between the ruling Trinamool Congress and its arch rival the CPI(M)-led Left Front was always out of the question in the state, there was some speculation about a possible Congress-Trinamool Congress concord.

However, this too was possible only if the Congress high command overruled the objections of the majority of its state leadership to any alliance with the ruling party in West Bengal.

According to the latest information, the Congress high command is keeping the door open for dialogues with both, the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress, till the very end.

However, during the last ten days there have been enough indications from the top leaders of the Trinamool Congress and the state unit of the Congress that a three-cornered contest between the ruling party, the BJP and the Congress-Left Front alliance is a big possibility.

Significantly, both the Congress and CPI(M) have taken the preliminary decision not to contest from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency in South 24 Parganas district and allow All-India Secular Front (AISF) representative Naushad Siddique to stand from there.

The move, according to political observers, will undoubtedly put Diamond Harbour’s current Lok Sabha member and Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee in a fix.

This is because of the twin factors of a sizeable minority population in that constituency that is enough to determine the fate of the candidates there and the skyrocketing popularity of Siddique among the Muslim voters, especially among the youth.

Observers say that in case of a triangular contest between the Trinamool Congress, BJP and AISF in Diamond Harbour, the sitting MP from there will to a great extent restrict himself to that constituency rather than concentrating on campaigning for the party in the entire state.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself sowed the seeds of discord when she gave a hint that while the INDIA Bloc will prevail at the national level, in the case of West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress would take on the BJP alone.

“Let the INDIA Bloc be there nationally, but in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress will put up the fight. Remember, in West Bengal only Trinamool Congress can teach the BJP a lesson. The Trinamool Congress can show the path to the entire country from West Bengal. No other party is capable of doing that,” Mamata Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister’s observation was the trigger for state Congress President and five-time Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to reiterate his old logic against any kind of compromise with the Trinamool Congress.

Chowdhury said that factionalism and corruption have led the state’s ruling party to the final stage of cancer. On Thursday evening he virtually closed all the doors on behalf of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) for any alliance with the Trinamool Congress by directly challenging Mamata Banerjee to contest against him in the Lok Sabha polls this year.

He also described the Trinamool Congress’ demands for seats in Assam, Meghalaya and Goa, as against just two seats for the grand old party in West Bengal as absurd propositions, particularly as the two seats already have sitting Congress MPs.

In no time, the CPI(M)’s central committee member Sujan Chakraborty expressed solidarity with Chowdhury on the issue.

“Although I should not speak about an internal policy matter of the Congress, I still want to say that the kind of political and administrative wrath that the Congress has been subjected to in West Bengal during the current Trinamool Congress regime, such a reaction from the state Congress President is quite natural,” Chakraborty said.

Political observers say that although everything is possible in politics, as of now it is quite evident that the concept of INDIA Bloc will be restricted to the Congress-Left Front and not the Congress-Trinamool Congress combine.

Source: IANS

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Chandigarh, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) More fissures appear in the INDIA bloc after Punjab’s ruling AAP slams the main Opposition party, Congress that remains opposed to it in the state.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann fired a salvo by sarcastically saying, “Ek thi Congress” on the first day of 2024 that will see the general elections in the country.

“Ek thi Congress” is the world’s shortest story, Mann told the media here.

At the same time, the Congress paid him back in the same coin by saying, “Ek tha Joker.”

The Congress said there were common ideologies between the AAP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in seeking a “Congress-free India”.

Taking to X, Congress leader Pawan Khera responded to Mann’s assertion by saying, “How similar are the views of AAP and Modi ji! Both of them dream of a Congress-free India. Will eat both mouthfuls.” “By the way, the name of a Bhojpuri picture is ‘Ek tha Joker’. You must have seen it?” he added.

Joining the issue, Congress state leader Navjot Sidhu said his questions backed by facts and figures on the Delhi liquor scam have remained unanswered since Punjab Elections in 2022.

“Your silence is a deafening betrayal of the principles you once advocated,” he taunted AAP National Convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Former state Congress chief Sidhu said the once vocal advocate for accountability has gone mute. “Is it a confession of inconvenient truths? The self-proclaimed RTI crusader has morphed into a master of evasion…Time for accountability and transparency,” he said, adding, “The Congress was, is and always will be there.”

In the backdrop of the AAP’s ‘Vikas Kranti Rally’ in Bathinda district that saw the presence of Mann and Kejriwal, the maverick leader Sidhu at a ‘Jittega Punjab, Jittegi Congress (Punjab will win, Congress will win)’ rally on the same day in the district took a dig at the government by saying a sand tipper which earlier sold for Rs 3,000 now costs Rs 21,000.

He slammed Mann and Kejriwal for promising Rs 20,000 crore revenue from sand mining and stated that “the government could collect a mere Rs 125 crore”.

He also took a jibe at the AAP leaders for not fulfilling the pre-poll promise of giving Rs 1,000 allowance per month to every woman aged 18 and above.

However, knives are out within the party against Sidhu for his rallies, which rivals describe as “self-glorification events.”

Sidhu has also been slamming his party colleagues, including former Chief Minister Charanjit Channi, who was the chief ministerial candidate in the 2022 Assembly elections. Leaders believe Sidhu’s assertions harmed the party in the 2022 Assembly elections too.

The AAP had won 92 seats in Punjab -- up from 20 in 2017 with its vote share rising to 42.4 per cent. At a public meeting in Bathinda last month, Kejriwal appealed to the people to vote for the ruling AAP in all 13 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, hinting at no scope for seat sharing with its INDIA ally Congress.

He also asked the public, “Tell me one thing that the Akali Dal-BJP Government and the Congress Government have done in 75 years?”

The Congress had won eight Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019, whereas the AAP won only a single seat.

The state unit of the Congress has been opposing the proposal of an alliance with the AAP.

Slamming the government after Arjuna Awardee Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Dalbir Singh was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Jalandhar, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa said that on the very first day of this year it has been established that the government is absolutely inefficient in streamlining the law and order situation.

On the occasion of New Year 2024, Bajwa wished better sense would prevail over the government and it would start working for the betterment of the state.

“What the AAP Government in Punjab did in 2023 was exactly opposite of what it promised before elections in 2022. The government performed far from the expectations of the people of Punjab,” Bajwa told the media.

On the drug menace, Bajwa said that AAP's senior leadership, including Mann and Kejriwal, had vowed to end the drug menace within four months of forming the government. However, on August 15, 2023, the Punjab Chief Minister sought another year to end the growing drug abuse in the state. Meanwhile, it has been more than four months since he made another pledge, and he has done literally nothing except conduct roadshows and cycle rallies.

“By the end of this financial year, the state’s debt will cross the Rs 3 lakh crore mark. Instead of raising revenue of the state from various sources like Rs 20,000 crore from sand mining and Rs 34,000 crore by ending corruption, the AAP Government kept borrowing from several financial agencies, including the Reserve Bank of India,” said Bajwa.

The Opposition leader said the law and order situation in Punjab remained poor in 2023 as well. Just like in 2022, gruesome crimes took place in 2023, too, and the AAP Government merely remained a mute spectator.

“I urge Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, who also holds the Home portfolio to pull up his socks and chalk out an effective strategy to tackle organised crimes and growing gun violence in the state,” Bajwa added.

As the fighting between the AAP and the Congress escalates, hopes about their collective strength in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, in Punjab diminish, say political observers.

The situation, they say, seems fluid for both the arch-rivals. The AAP and the Congress have never been on the same page in state politics, which is largely dominated by the Congress and the Akali Dal, since the former's meteoric rise in the 2014 parliamentary polls.

Since the 21-month-old AAP Government, which trounced the traditional players that ruled the state for over seven decades, has an edge over all rivals, the Mann-led dispensation has sharp differences with all Opposition parties -- the Congress, the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Missing no opportunity, Chief Minister Mann is often accusing the BJP and the Congress of working together to topple the AAP Government.

In the present political scenario, the BJP, riding high on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, is gung-ho about its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress is yet to emerge from its own shadow, first to challenge the ruling AAP and then to counter the saffron brigade, which is largely banking on the sections deserting it, mainly Jat Sikhs, to strengthen its base.

Also, the state's once prominent regional outfit SAD, which marked its centennial in 2021, is facing its worst crisis “structurally, organisationally, and even in terms of ideological leadership.”

There is a mass exodus of leaders, even SAD veterans with grey, flowing beards. Now the SAD is returning to its “panthic” (Sikh religious) agenda to win back its core base of the Sikhs, particularly in rural belts, after the backlash to the 2015 sacrilege incidents and to its initial support to the Centre's (now repealed) farm laws.

Apart from former Chief Minister Channi, the Vigilance Bureau has initiated probes against several Congress leaders, including former Deputy Chief Minister OP Soni, former ministers Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Vijay Inder Singla, Brahm Mohindra, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Balbir Singh Sidhu, Gurpreet Singh Kangar and Sham Sunder Arora.

Dismissing charges of “political vendetta”, Chief Minister Mann has been saying the government has waged a war against corruption, and many leaders, including the AAP’s own men, who indulged in corruption, have been put behind bars.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at gulatiians@gmail.com)

Source: IANS

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Chennai, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Even as the INDIA bloc is facing several teething issues regarding the prominence of each party across the country, in Tamil Nadu, it is clear that MK Stalin is the boss and the ruling DMK has the final say in the seat sharing arrangements for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The DMK, which has won comfortable victories in all the polls since the 2019 General Elections in Tamil Nadu, is sitting pretty in the forthcoming 2024 General Elections as well.

Stalin’s party DMK, as the leader of the coalition in Tamil Nadu, commenced preparations for the Lok Sabha polls last year.

In February 2023, Stalin had called a meeting of DMK District Secretaries and posted full time party workers in each Assembly constituency, who were asked to appoint dedicated workers in each booth committee.

R Selvapandy, a leader of the DMK in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu, told IANS, “The DMK is all geared up and our leader Stalin has already called upon the party cadres and workers to win all the 39 seats from Tamil Nadu and the lone seat from neighbouring Puducherry which is held by the AIADMK at present.”

He said that the booth committees have been active since March 2023 and each booth incharge has to have a proper understanding of the voter list. They have to ensure that the names of new voters are added and the names of those who have passed away or have shifted residence are struck off the list, he added.

It may be recalled that in the 2019 General Elections the DMK-led front Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) contested on 21 seats, the Congress on 10 seats, the CPI(M), CPI and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) fought on two seats each while the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) contested from one seat as did the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).

The DMK’s front won all seats except in Theni where the SPA’s candidate senior Congress leader and former Union Minister, EVKS Elangovan lost to AIADMK leader OP Raveendranathan, who incidentally is the son of former Chief Minister and senior AIADMK leader, O Panneerselvam.

With the DMK ruling Tamil Nadu and having a grass root network in all the Assembly constituencies, the partners of the INDIA front including the Congress, CPI(M), CPI, VCK, MDMK and the IUML have to toe the line taken by Stalin’s party as it is the big brother in the alliance.

In Tamil Nadu’s politics, the parties with strong Dravidian roots will have the say in a coalition and national parties will have to ride piggyback. This is exactly what the Congress and BJP did in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when they depended on their coalition partners the DMK and AIADMK respectively.

A senior Congress leader from Salem told IANS, “The Congress won nine seats in the last Lok Sabha elections due to the DMK as the grand old party does not have the organisational capability or the base to win seats on its own in the state. The ten seats being given by the DMK are the maximum we can get and I can vouch that it is only due to the generosity of the Dravidian major that we are getting these many seats to contest.”

Senior DMK leader S Durai Murugan told IANS, "There are no issues in seat sharing in the front in Tamil Nadu. Our leader, Thiru MK Stalin will have the final say and the DMK is a political party which always respects coalition dharma and knows how the alliance works. There won’t be any issues in Tamil Nadu as far as seat sharing for the General Elections is concerned.”

He also said that it would be an easy win for the DMK given the popularity of Stalin and the several welfare schemes that the state government has implemented since it has assumed power.

With the INDIA bloc having Muslim, Dalit and workers’ representation in the IUML, VCK and the Communist parties in Tamil Nadu, it is a formidable electoral combination representing all social and religious communities.

RK Raghavan, Director, Institute of Social and Political Research, Coimbatore told IANS, “On close observation, the INDIA bloc is a clear social combination as it has representations from all sections of society. The seat sharing exercise is expected to culminate in an amicable manner and with the DMK calling the shots, it is certain that each of the coalition partners will contest in the same number of seats that they contested in the 2019 polls.”

Source: IANS

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Mumbai, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) The election year 2024 has dawned and all political parties in the country are busy sharpening their knives, poring over permutations-combinations, mulling strategies and coining slogans for the upcoming much-anticipated Lok Sabha polls.

All political parties -- whether ruling or in the Opposition, at the Centre or in the states -- are earnestly gearing up and aiming for ‘fateh’ (victory) at all costs.

Ditto in Maharashtra, where the ruling MahaYuti of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Nationalist Congress Party (AP) & the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of the Congress-Shiv Sena (UBT)-Nationalist Congress Party (SP), plus, their respective smaller allies/partners, are all set to pounce at each other and win.

Maharashtra with the second highest number of 48 Lok Sabha seats, just next to the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh (80), is a crucial state for the national opposition INDIA bloc.

The Congress has ruled the state for nearly 50 years after its founding in May 1960, with the non-Congress alliances ruling thrice from1995-1999, 2014-2019, and now since June 2022 after the MVA was toppled.

However, despite brave assertions from the MVA top leaders like Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Nana Patole that "All's Well", the three parties have yet to announce their proposed ‘seat-sharing’ formula – almost like the INDIA bloc.

Much to the delight of the MahaYuti, the MVA partners continue to squabble over the 48 seats, with other contenders like Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) waiting outside for their share.

A peculiar scenario has emerged where the SS-UBT and Congress are demanding around 23-24 seats each, the NCP(SP) has not floated any figures yet, while the VBA is staking claim to at least 12 seats.

The SS-UBT claims and calculations are based on its victory in 2019 as the undivided Shiv Sena, but Congress leaders argue that now a majority of the originally elected MPs have joined the Shiv Sena of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Countering this, the SS-UBT pointed out that in 2019, the Congress bagged only 1 Lok Sabha seat while the NCP (SP) won 4.

Congress leaders hit back by saying that the SS’s vote share for the 18 seats it won was 23.5 percent, compared with Congress’ 16.4 percent (1 seat, Chandrapur), and the undivided NCP’s 15.7 percent (4 seats).

However, the Congress-NCP hold a grouse that in many constituencies, the erstwhile alliance of VBA with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen purportedly cut into their votes in several constituencies with a 7 percent vote share though it won just a single seat (AIMIM) in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (then, Aurangabad).

Naturally, the VBA-AIMIM alliance and certain other local forces which bagged a 9.6 percent vote share, hurt the Congress-NCP badly and boosted the BJP-led saffron alliance's performance.

Although the NCP (SP) is optimistic that the VBA led by Prakash Ambedkar may be accommodated in the INDIA bloc, the state and central Congress leaders harbour serious doubts and distrust about the proposal.

As the MVA-INDIA bickering on seat-sharing continues, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has confidently set an ambitious target to bag “at least 45 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats” along with its allies, amid sneers from the Opposition.

Despite just one seat, the Congress hopes to drive a tough bargain as the two major partners the SS-UBT and NCP(SP) are faded images of their original self after they suffered vertical splits in June 2022 and July 2023, respectively.

Nevertheless, the Opposition parties are uncomfortably together, and Congress state president Patole has set a target to win at least 35 seats along with the SS-UBT and the NCP (SP).

The MVA seat share arrangement is likely to be announced later in January, most probably after the INDIA announcement, according to a state Congress bigwig.

Meanwhile, the three allies keep popping up tentative formulae for the 48 seats: the Congress 18, NCP-SP and SS-UBT 15 each, or 16 seats each for the three top partners, or 15 each with 3 seats left for smaller allies (like the VBA or Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana), or a similar arrangement without leading to political bloodshed and keeping the allies united.

Fortunately, in recent days, the partners privately indicate a climbdown with words like ‘realistic’ demands for seats, setting ‘achievable’ targets and adopting an ‘inclusive’ attitude towards the smaller/weaker partners in the MVA or even accommodating other parties like the VBA.

Despite the obvious stumbling blocks hinting at disunity, most leaders are positive that the mature top leaders like Sharad Pawar, Thackeray and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will work out an amicable formula soon – well before the Election Commission sets the poll ball rolling.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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Patna, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) After the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc, its alliance partners in Bihar are making hard bargains with each other before Lok Sabha election 2024.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal-United (JD-U) has almost accepted his stand of not contesting less than 16 seats in Bihar which is a clear indication that the alliance partners have differences with each other and everyone is trying to get the upper hand in the final negotiations.

Sanjay Kumar Jha, water resource minister of Bihar and a trusted associate of Nitish Kumar, on Friday stated that his party will not contest less than 16 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

“We have16 MPs of the Lok Sabha and there is no question of contesting less than 16 seats in Bihar,” he said.

His statement came a day after RJD leader and deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav met Nitish Kumar at the latter 's official residence in Patna. It is a clear signal that Nitish Kumar is ready for some hard bargaining with the RJD in Bihar. The JD-U leaders always raise the point to make Nitish Kumar the convener of the alliance and the PM face of the Opposition INDIA bloc.

“I want to clarify that the party will not open a dialogue with the Congress and the Left parties. He (Nitish) said that the Congress and the Left parties will finalize their seats with the RJD and then we will discuss the final formula with them,” Jha said, adding that the JD-U will go for more seats not less.

The firm stand of the JD-U will make it tough for the RJD and other alliance partners of the INDIA bloc as Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats and if the JD-U bargains for one or two seats more, it leaves only 22 to 23 seats for the RJD, Congress, CPI, CPM and CPI-ML.

If the JD-U will contest on 16 or more seats, the RJD has to contest on the same number of seats to claim that its political status in Bihar is similar to the JD-U.

The main bargaining strength of the JD-U is its position in Bihar. NItish Kumar or any other leader of the JD-U may not speak about it on a public platform but its option to go with the BJP-led NDA is always there.

In the recent past during the national executive committee meeting in New Delhi the then national president Lalan Singh had resigned from the post and Nitish Kumar was elected the national president. On that occasion too Nitish Kumar did not make any strong statement against the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The soft approach towards the BJP gives Nitish Kumar a better chance to bargain hard with the alliance partners as the latter believe that if Kumar executes his 'Paltimar' programme again, the INDIA bloc will not have any chance to win the Lok Sabha election.

After Nitish Kumar separated from the NDA in August 2022, he and other leaders of the JD-U always said that they need to reduce only 40 seats of the NDA to bring the Narendra Modi government below the majority figure of 272. Hence, Bihar is crucial for the INDIA bloc to challenge Narendra Modi and the BJP in the general election.

The intentions of the JD-U can also be understood through the statement of JD-U MLC Neeraj Kumar, who said that his party will do politics by sitting on the partners' chest. However he clarified that his relations with all the alliance partners are good.

“The JD-U is a party of only 45 MLAs. Still, the politics of Bihar revolve around our party and this is happening only due to our political brain and smartness. No one will conspire against us. They know our style of politics. We do politics by sitting on the chest. The opposition alliance started from Bihar and we have only one ambition -- to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha election,” Kumar said.

“Our leader Nitish Kumar never claimed any post of convener or PM face of the INDIA bloc. It is a conspiracy of the opposition parties like the BJP to raise this point again and again to create confusion in the minds of the common people,” Kumar said.

The meeting between Tejashwi Yadav and Nitish Kumar gave an opportunity to the opposition leaders to train their guns at the INDIA bloc leaders.

Meanwhile, Union minister Giriraj Singh took a dig at the INDIA bloc leaders and said: “Nitish Kumar is not pleased with Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav. Until and unless, Nitish Kumar gets the post of convener, he will not be satisfied.”

“Tejashwi Yadav went to the residence of Nitish Kumar to pacify him as he (Nitish Kumar) is upset, Tejashwi had to go to the darbar (court)) of Kumar and sing a song -- "Ruthe Chacha Ko Manau Kaise,” (How can I pacify my angry uncle) Giriraj Singh said.

Source: IANS

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Guwahati, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress in Assam was successful in uniting 12 parties to form a cohesive opposition to counter the BJP's formidable election machinery in the state, led by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, long before the 26 opposition parties formed the INDIA bloc.

The Left parties -- Raijor Dol, led by Sivasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi; Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) of former All Assam Students Union (AASU) leader Lurinjyoti Gogoi -- and others were present in the unified opposition forum. However, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), a significant figure in the state's politics, is absent from the joint conference.

At first, the opposition group did not include Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress or Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Following the announcement of INDIA, the situation changed to a great extent and both Trinamool Congress and AAP are now constituents of the major opposition alliance.

However, tensions have started mounting among the allies over ticket distribution.

Assam has a total of 14 Lok Sabha seats. In the 2019 general elections, Congress fought for the maximum number of seats. But this time, as they forged a bigger alliance, the allies have started demanding seats.

AAP leaders have expressed their desire to contest at least four Lok Sabha seats, while the Trinamool Congress has also insisted on conteding in five seats.

Meanwhile, the Left parties are asking to be allocated three seats.

Akhil Gogoi has declared categorically that he will run for the Lok Sabha seat in Jorhat.

Congress is not ready to give its allies plenty of seats. Although the state party president Bhupen Borah has been speaking about sacrifice to combat with the BJP in polls.

“Our primary aim is to beat the BJP. All parties including the Congress are ready to sacrifice for the cause. I hope every leader will understand this. We must ensure that there is only one candidate from the INDIA bloc against the BJP in each Lok Sabha seat in Assam.

"The ticket distribution will be decided by Delhi leaders. In Assam, we shall accept the decisions taken by the high command,” he had said recently.

The Assam Congress president further said that the opposition parties should take note of the strength of the 'Grand Old Party' in the state.

“The Congress party has three Lok Sabha MPs and more than 20 MLAs in Assam. While distributing the tickets for Lok Sabha, this fact will have to be considered by all.”

In the previous Lok Sabha polls, Congress won Nagaon, Kaliabor and Barpeta.

Although Gaurav Gogoi is still an MP from Kaliabor, the Lok Sabha constituency no longer exists following the delimitation exercise.

Gogoi has since been looking for a new constituency to fight the polls.

According to party sources, he is keen to contest from Jorhat where Akhil Gogoi has already staked his claim of candidature.

Abdul Khaleque, a Congress MP from Barpeta, has announced that he would fight polls from there. But the Left parties have been demanding this seat from the alliance.

The contention over ticket distribution among the allies of the INDIA bloc in Assam might be good news for the BJP.

Chief Minister Sarma said: “This is Khichdi alliance and the BJP will be successful to win more than 11 Lok Sabha seats in Assam.”

Source: IANS

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Ranchi, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Finalising a seat-sharing formula for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand, where the JMM-Congress-RJD coalition is in power, would be a big challenge for the Opposition's INDIA bloc.

Besides JMM, Congress, and RJD, three more constituents of the INDIA bloc -- JD(U), CPI, and CPI (ML) -- are staking claims on some seats in the state.

Any official talks on the issue of seat sharing between INDIA allies haven't yet taken place in the state, and there seems hardly any possibility for such talks in the next 15-20 days. However, parties at individual levels are brainstorming to finalise the number of seats they would be staking claim for.

On January 2-3, newly-appointed Jharkhand in-charge of Congress Ghulam Ahmad Mir was in Ranchi. He held separate meetings with the Congress Legislature Party and key party leaders to discuss the seats for which the party would stake claim.

On January 4, Congress Legislature Party leader Alamgir Alam and state party president Rajesh Thakur participated in a meeting called by the party's top leadership to discuss the issue in New Delhi.

According to sources, it was decided in the meeting that the party will stake claim on 10 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand.

Congress believes that it has accepted Hemant Soren's leadership in state politics, so in return, it should get a bigger stake in national politics.

When the media asked Alam about the seat-sharing issue after he arrived from Delhi, he said: "I do not think there is any problem in the seat sharing for the Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand. Everything will be decided on time without any dispute."

On the other hand, the JMM has staked claim on eight Lok Sabha seats of the state. On December 19, JMM MP Vijay Hansda, General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya and Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji participated in the meeting of constituent parties of the INDIA bloc in New Delhi and presented their views on the claim for seats.

JMM says that its support base in the state is bigger than the other constituent parties of the bloc, thus it has a claim on at least 60 per cent of the seats.

RJD, the third partner party of the ruling alliance in the state, also wants "more" for itself. RJD state spokesperson Manoj Kumar said that the party wants to contest elections on four Lok Sabha seats in the state - Palamu, Chatra, Koderma and Godda. The state unit of the party has conveyed this to the RJD national president.

Among the left parties, CPI is claiming one seat, Hazaribagh, from where the party's Bhuvneshwar Prasad Mehta was elected MP in 2004.

Similarly, CPI (ML) is staking claim on three Lok Sabha seats Hazaribagh, Rajmahal and Koderma. The state committee of the party has passed a proposal to field a candidate from the Rajmahal seat under any circumstances.

Nitish Kumar's JD(U) has not had any significant influence in Jharkhand for the last decade, but despite this, the party wants two seats for itself. It is being said that to strengthen its demand, the JD(U) will cite the vote bank of the Koeri-Kurmi community on these seats.

Overall, there is currently a tug-of-war regarding seat distribution and it is very difficult to create a universally accepted formula among all the constituent parties.

Source: IANS

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Patna, Dec 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav may play the role of ambassador to smooth the ruffled feathers of Congress allies within the INDIA bloc following the Grand Old Party's losses in the three states that went to the polls last month.

The parties have been unhappy with the attitude of the Congress in the recently held five state Assembly elections. Leaders like Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal CM Mamata Benerjee and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal have been miffed. Even Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray group is also not pleased with the approach of Congress as it went against the alliance norms and preferred solo fight.

The result of Assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states --Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan -- has put every alliance partner of INDIA on back foot. Hence many leaders have started positioning their regional strengths while some of them like Bihar CM Nitish Kumar are now applying more pressure on the Congress party for a huge bargain.

The JD(U) sources have said that Nitish Kumar will do a rally in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of PM Narendra Modi as well.

Keeping in view of all these circumstances, Congress may ask Lalu Prasad to coordinate with the bloc partners to give a tough challenge to BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Lalu Prasad has close relationships with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin and Akhilesh Yadav. Hence, the Congress may use his experience to narrow down the gap that has crept up after the loss in three states.

The biggest challenge for Lalu Prasad is to negotiate with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. After the result of three states, JD(U), Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders targeted Congress. Even the December 6 meeting of INDIA in New Delhi was also postponed.

Nitish Kumar has a regional council meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Patna on Sunday. The political leaders are also looking forward to this meeting as Nitish Kumar will face Amit Shah almost after 18 months. The JD(U) leaders are claiming that this is a government meeting where the representatives of West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand will also be present and it has nothing to do with politics. The RJD leaders are also not commenting on it.

“Lalu Prasad Yadav is a veteran leader and everyone has faith in him. He has good relations with the leaders of all alliance partners of INDIA. He never compromised with BJP at any stage of his political career which makes him a faithful friend to the Congress party but a foe to their common political enemy BJP,” said Mritunjay Tiwari, RJD leader and spokesperson.

The biggest challenge for the leaders of INDIA is to make coordination between the leaders of opposition political parties of North and East zone of the country. States like Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir are crucial for the Congress party as the regional parties are more influential there than it. The relief for the Congress party is in the south and northeast region where the BJP is not in the race.

“We always say that the imagination of opposition unity cannot be possible without the Congress party. Our leader Nitish Kumar has said that he will go to the next meeting of INDIA and our stand is clear to contest the Lok Sabha election on the basis of one seat one candidate formula to defeat BJP. The saffron party is not in the race in southern and northeastern states and if we make good strategies in Hindi belt, West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir, BJP can be defeated,” said Neeraj Kumar, JD(U) MLC and chief spokesperson of the party.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) Congress' 3-1 defeat in the recent Assembly elections has put the INDIA bloc back on the drawing board and this time it won't be easy for the party to dominate.

Having kept the bloc activities on hold during the five-state polls, the grand old party is now seeking its 27 partners and wants all to converge again to prepare for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, post-election results, the bloc partners are seeking a new drawing board with each one of them wanting to redraw the lines on their terms.

The three-state results have changed everything for the Congress and its partners in the INDIA bloc. The five-state Assembly elections were projected as a semi-final to the 2024 general elections and the first test of the INDIA bloc. The Congress failed miserably in the three big states and also failed the bloc, which has clearly antagonised its partners.

This has been made clear by other major stakeholders in the INDIA bloc by staying away from the December 6 meeting called by Congress President Mallikarajun Kharge at his residence in Delhi. This meeting was called after nearly three months since the last meeting of the bloc as the Congress had turned its focus on the five state elections.

But, a day before the scheduled meeting, the Congress was forced to call off the planned gathering after many of the bloc top leaders stayed away. The meeting has now been scheduled in the third week of December. The rescheduling was an indication of the inner rumblings among the constituents of the opposition bloc. Many leaders are alleging that the grand old party ignored them, and itself was unable to win elections on its own.

With the storm in the INDIA bloc tea cup, will the power-sharing dynamics change within the alliance. That is the question now after the Congress' disastrous loss in the Assembly Elections.

The partners have been openly expressing their disappointments. Whether it is the Janata Dal(U), AAP, Samajwadi Party, or even the Left, the bloc partners are blaming the Congress' approach to the state elections, saying that the grand old party lacked inclusivity as it did not actively involve the alliance members in the campaign process. The INDIA bloc did no joint rallies in any of the five states that went to polls in November, and there was no seat sharing.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took a jibe at the Congress, saying it was clear that the party couldn't win the elections alone. JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagi even expressed his concerns about the Congress' poll performance and suggested the party focus on its survival.

The Samajwadi Party, upset with the Congress attitude in Madhya Pradesh, has openly expressed its discontent. And SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear that it is not going to be easy for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

Trinamool Congress has said the Congress' losses were "more of a Congress failure than a BJP success story". Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan did not mince words in attacking the Congress, and said its decision to go solo and not form alliances with other INDIA parties played a significant role in the unfavourable election results.

With unhappy 27 partners, Congress has landed itself in a very difficult situation today. Its bargaining power is not the same as it was when it won the state elections in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

The INDIA bloc's drawing board will be redrawn. The loss in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will weigh the Congress down. In fact, the wipeout in the Hindi heartland states has rather made it one of the weakest links in the bloc.

Three months ago, the Congress deliberately postponed seat-sharing negotiations in the bloc assuming that it would win the Hindi heartland states which could increase its bargaining position. Now that the BJP has massively beaten the Congress in three big states, its aftereffect will be very hard for the grand old party.

The Congress, which considers itself the principal opposition party, has only three states -- Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. It is now just one another party in the bloc. With this, the party is now left with perhaps its worst-ever footprint in north India.

Despite aggressive campaigning on ground and in social media, the Congress failed miserably before Modi's BJP. It lost even as it promised free doles, pinched caste senses, appeased minorities and demonised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And it also lost because it shunned its INDIA bloc partners in the elections. The same bloc partners will now make counter moves and the Congress will be forced to compromise.

(Deepika Bhan can be contacted at deepika.b @ians.in)

Source: IANS

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Ranchi, Dec 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) When asked about the BJP's resounding electoral victory in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in the recently concluded Assembly elections, Jharkhand Chief Minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Working President, Hemant Soren, told media persons: "The poll results are according to the hard work any party puts in the elections. Only time will tell the impact of these poll results on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections."

It is evident from Soren's reaction that he pointed to Congress, one of the main allies of the oppositions in INDIA bloc, that if you want to win the elections, you will have to work harder to defeat the BJP.

Given the current political situation in Jharkhand, the path of winning further elections is not at all easy for INDIA bloc. After a resounding victory in three states of the Hindi belt -- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the BJP is buoyed with the victories in the recently concluded Assembly polls which were held in November.

Hemant Soren is aware that now BJP will intensify its political attacks on him. To face this daunting challenge, he has now entered the electoral field single-handedly, without caring much about the other INDIA bloc parties and their allies in Jharkhand.

Citing his busy schedule ahead of the general election in 2024, the Jharkhand Chief Minister had decided to skip the December 6 meeting of INDIA bloc in New Delhi. However, this meeting was postponed due to non-availability of majority of the prominent leaders of the INDIA bloc.

In the last few days, Hemant Soren is continuously touring various districts of his state under the " 'Aapki Yojana, Aapki Sarkar, Aapke Dwar' campaign. Although this is a state government-led campaign, but in the public meetings being held under it, Soren is seen taking on the BJP setting his political agenda.

On one hand, he is highlighting the achievements of the Jharkhand government before the people and on the other hand, he is seen fiercely attacking the BJP and the Central government for its policies. His effort is to not let the political ground gained by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha weaken under any circumstances.

The leaders of Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal -- the other two constituent parties apart from JMM which are part of the Jharkhand government -- need to worry about the extent to which they are able to manage their political ground ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

After the election results on December 3, Congress leaders and workers in Jharkhand are unhappy. The grand old party had decided two months ago that every week in the State Congress office, four ministers from the Congress quota included in the Hemant government would listen to the problems of the people in the state. This strategy has not been implemented by the party since the last three to four weeks.

There is currently no other noteworthy programme by Congress for connecting with the people taking place at the state level. There is a studded silence within the RJD, an ally of the Jharkhand government, regarding their party's organisational programmes.

A big challenge for the opposition INDIA bloc in Jharkhand will be regarding the distribution of seats for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The current ruling coalition in the state comprises three parties -- Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal.

In the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections held in 2019, these three parties had divided Assembly seats among themselves.

If the INDIA bloc resolves to contest elections together in Jharkhand, then the number of parties under the alliance will increase from three to five or six, which will then affect the seat-sharing arrangement and that could become a very challenging situation.

Nitish Kumar-led JDU and Left parties have no stake in the current ruling coalition government in Jharkhand. At present, JDU has no MLA in the state, while CPI-ML has only one MLA among the Left parties. Within the INDIA bloc, JDU and Left parties will also stake claim on the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats.

There are 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, the distribution of which will be very difficult, to create a unanimous seat-sharing formula among the constituent parties of the INDIA bloc in the state. In the 2019 elections, an alliance of four parties -- Congress, JMM, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) and RJD was formed, but there was a huge dispute over the seat-sharing arrangement.

Within the alliance government in Jharkhand, Congress got seven seats, JMM got four, Babulal Marandi's JVM got two and Rashtriya Janata Dal got one seat. Unity was shown on 13 seats, but Rashtriya Janata Dal was not satisfied with getting just one seat. Therefore, the RJD had fielded its candidates on two seats -- Palamu and Chatra.

This time, apart from JMM, Congress and RJD, JDU and Left parties will also stake claim on Lok Sabha seats in the opposition INDIA bloc. Discussions regarding the claim and seat-sharing have also started in the respective meetings of these parties.

This time Congress is contesting on nine Lok Sabha seats, whereas last time, it had contested on seven. The grand old party said that in 2019, under an internal agreement, it had left two seats for Babulal Marandi's Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Democratic). Now Jharkhand Vikas Morcha has quit the opposition INDIA bloc and Babulal Marandi has joined the BJP.

On the other hand, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha is preparing to stake claim on five to six seats, whereas last time it had contested on four. RJD is also in a mood to reclaim at least two seats, whereas last time in the alliance it was agreed to give it only one seat. Left parties want at least one seat for themselves.

The Left parties' want to contest from the Hazaribagh Assembly constituency, from where CPI's Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Mahto had been elected as an MP in 2004. It is said that CPI's National General Secretary D. Raja has expressed his desire to contest elections from Hazaribagh in 2024.

The active presence of JDU leaders and the state party committee in recent times is indicating that it will want a Lok Sabha seat for itself within the opposition INDIA alliance in Jharkhand. The JDU wants to contest from the Hazaribagh, Koderma and Giridih seats.

The biggest difference in seat distribution will be between Congress and JMM. Along with the Lok Sabha, Assembly elections are also to be held in Jharkhand in 2024. In such a situation, while deciding any formula for Lok Sabha seats, the distribution of 81 Assembly seats will also be necessarily discussed which will be quite challenging.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, Dec 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Egos are getting bigger than issues and unity is torn apart by one-upmanship between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, the two main constituents of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh.

After the Congress’ debacle in the Assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party is in the “I-told-you-so” mood, conveniently forgetting its own dismal performance in Madhya Pradesh.

Post the grand old party’s poll losses in three states, the Samajwadi Party has firmly placed itself in the driving seat of the alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

“The Congress has no business to put any terms for the alliance in UP. We are the biggest challenger to the BJP and the seat distribution will be in accordance to the political relevance of a party,” said a senior SP leader.

SP spokesperson Fakhrul Hasan Chaand went on to say that given the political landscape in UP, the Congress only deserved two Lok Sabha seats – possibly Rae Bareli and Amethi.

He mentioned that the Congress suffered defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh due to its misguided decisions, weakening the unity of the INDIA bloc. Hasan pointed out that this is the reason why the BJP is now eager to hold elections ahead of schedule.

Fakhrul Hasan explained that granting more seats would inadvertently assist the BJP and in order to defeat the BJP, the Congress should align itself with the SP.

Senior SP leader IP Singh took to social media platform X on Monday to accuse Priyanka Gandhi of having struck “a deal” with the BJP at the Centre and went on to explain in detail how her choices in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have led to the BJP’s victory and the Congress party’s defeat.

A senior party functionary, known for his proximity to Akhilesh Yadav disclosed that SP would leave a maximum of five seats for the Congress.

“This will depend on the nature of seat-sharing talks and the attitude of the other party. We know that we are the only party that can challenge the BJP in UP and other members of the INDIA bloc should also accept this fact,” he said.

However, he said that SP would remain a part of the Opposition bloc and would even attend the next meeting of the alliance.

Akhilesh Yadav, meanwhile, said Assembly elections were over and “so there was no point in talking about it.”

The Congress has not formally placed any demand for seats but state leaders say that they would want a respectable share, keeping in mind their national status.

The Congress dismissed the allegations of the SP as completely unfounded and irrelevant and did not react to its barbs.

So far, there has been no effort from either of the parties to resolve issues and ease tensions between them.

Though both parties privately agree that the BJP has earned a major psychological advantage after the Assembly polls, they refuse to admit it officially.

“The BJP will now give a message to voters that they are invincible. We will launch a campaign against this only after the seat sharing issue is sorted out among the allies. We do not want to give another opportunity to the BJP to mock at us. Let them live in their paradise till then,” said a veteran Congress leader.

The SP is wary of the Congress party’s attempt to establish itself as the “big boss” of the alliance on the grounds that it was the only national party in the Opposition bloc. The posturing has left the regional parties outside UP feeling decidedly uncomfortable.

Senior SP leader Sudhir Panwar said, “Look at the party position in state Assembly and the Lok Sabha members of parties from Uttar Pradesh. In my opinion, that is the best way to assess a political party’s popularity in a particular region.”

This is a message that is making the Congress squirm in its position in the INDIA bloc.

Source: IANS

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Mumbai, Dec 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Maharashtra Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – a constituent of the national INDIA alliance – witnessed many long faces after the jaw-dropping results of the five state assembly elections declared last week.

The Bharatiya Janata Party retained Madhya Pradesh and picked up Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Congress won Telangana while the the Zoram Peoples Movement made a sweep in Mizoram.

While Telangana cheered up the Congress, the upsets in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh proved to be a dampener in the celebrations, as the MVA partners Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) took stock of the outcome.

The four states’ verdict elicited expected reactions from the MVA allies, including Shiv Sena (UBT) president and ex-chief minister Uddhav Thackeray – suspicions about the electronic voting machines (EVMs).

Thackeray immediately demanded that if the BJP has the courage, “then it should hold the BMC elections with ballot paper instead of EVMs to help dispel all doubts”, later echoed by party MP Sanjay Raut.

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi president Prakash Ambedkar warned that the outcome signals “a threat to parliamentary democracy” and urged all the Opposition parties in the country to fight unitedly to save India from the BJP's authoritarian tendencies.

The Congress and the NCP have not directly attacked the EVMs, though they raised concerns privately as the results had fallen short of expectations, but feel somewhat consoled that the Congress bagged a bigger chunk of the popular vote.

“The outcome proves two things – the Congress remains the BJP’s main obsession and also the strength of the INDIA bloc. Secondly, as a strategy, the BJP always ensures it beats the Congress in states where it is in a first or second position. But in Opposition-ruled states like Telangana, the BJP seems to take a back seat and lets the two Opposition parties bloody each other’s noses,” said a senior Sena (UBT) leader, declining to be named.

He claimed that this ensures the Congress gets a bad name among the Opposition allies who treat it as a rowdy ‘Big Brother’ rather than an understanding ‘Elder Brother’, while creating a rift among the Opposition parties across the country.

Concurring, a Mumbai Congress leader said that this is the classic BJP-RSS style of ‘divide-and-rule’ politics, coupled with the deployment of Central agencies allegedly to help the BJP, as was done in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan ahead of the polls.

“Now, a similar game-plan is being hatched in Maharashtra to corner the Shiv Sena (UBT) with moves to set up a SIT in the Disha Salian case, and exert pressure on other leaders like Sanjay Raut, Anil Parab, etc. The NCP (SP) leaders, and many more could be targeted,” he pointed out.

Incidentally, Maharashtra has seen the emasculation of two major parties – the NCP and the Shiv Sena – which suffered vertical splits in the past 18 months, muddying state politics. Accusing fingers were pointed at the BJP in both instances.

While one Shiv Sena is led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the other Shiv Sena (UBT) is headed by Thackeray; while one NCP is led by its founder-president Sharad Pawar, the other breakaway faction is headed by Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

A national-level NCP (SP) leader explained that contrary to the perception that the BJP has gained a psychological advantage after the recent poll results, the ground reality is different.

“Actually, despite so many electoral victories, the BJP is seen as a scared and worried party, with a slippery hold on a limited geographical area, or the so-called ‘Hindi-belt’ that has given it a ‘negative, ghettoish image’ in the rest of India that it is desperately struggling to shed," he said.

He said the BJP has only itself to blame for painting itself firmly in the ‘Hindi-belt’ locality, by the manner in which it harasses the Opposition-ruled states across the country through its governors, rampant misuse of Central agencies, etc.

On the possibility of rifts in the INDIA bloc ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the MVA leaders foresee no major problems, “barring the ruffled egos of a handful of leaders, who will ultimately fall in line” and some ‘tu-tu, main-main’ during the seat-sharing talks.

They also anticipate some friction in the matter of who could counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the alternative Opposition ‘PM-face’ – with several likely contestants from the INDIA group.

There is quiet apprehension about some probable ‘Trojan Horses’ within the INDIA bloc, vote-cutting of major parties, turncoats… which may prove advantageous to the BJP - both before and after the elections.

Nevertheless, they aver that given past experiences of the united Opposition locking horns with a single powerful ruling entity, ultimately it would depend on the ‘magic numbers game’ -- primarily on who gets the highest number of seats in the parliamentary polls.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Even though the BJP got a massive mandate in the recently held Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the party has decided that that it will continue to attack the INDIA bloc on the Sanatan Dharma issue, graft, etc, in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

The BJP wrested power from the Congress in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while it was successful in saving its government in Madhya Pradesh.

Though the BJP may not have got the kind of victory in Telangana that its leaders had been claiming, but the party’s strength in the South Indian state Assembly has increased and its vote percentage has also gone up.

The victory in these three states, before the Lok Sabha elections to be held after a few months, is very important for the BJP because in those states the BJP had a direct contest with the Congress which the grand old party lost.

Forget about the BJP, even parties in the INDIA bloc are taking a dig at the Congress over its defeat in the Assembly elections. However, despite this, the BJP is not ready to take any risk and will continue targeting the Opposition alliance.

The BJP's strategy is clear, that whether there is unity in the INDIA bloc or not, but the entire Opposition alliance will be in the crosshairs of the BJP – right from top level leaders to party workers. The BJP will continue to address the alliance as 'INDI Alliance' and 'Ghamandia Alliance'.

The BJP has given an indication to its cadre as well that even if the party has won the Assembly elections in a spectacular manner, the party will leave no stone unturned in attacking the INDIA bloc.

The BJP will continue to corner the Opposition alliance on the issues of Sanatan, Ram Mandir, national security and corruption, and the party will especially target the Congress which is its biggest opponent on the national level.

Therefore, when the DMK MP S Senthilkumar gave a controversial statement in the Lok Sabha, the BJP asked questions to the Congress and the Gandhi family.

The victory in the Assembly elections was termed as the defeat of Sanatan opponents. Accusing the Congress of postponing, stalling and diverting the Ram temple being built in Ayodhya, the BJP will continue to echo this issue in its forthcoming rallies ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, like it did in the Assembly elections.

Making Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's ‘DNA’ statement a big issue, BJP will also remind people of the statement given by Rahul Gandhi after losing Amethi and will also allege that the Congress is trying to divide the country into North India and South India.

Leading the attack on many Opposition parties, including Rahul Gandhi over the caste census and OBC reservation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that in this election (recently-concluded Assembly elections) a lot of efforts were made to divide the country into castes but he kept saying that for him, the biggest castes are the poor, youth, women and farmers and only the uplift of these four castes will make India a developed country.

Raising questions on the unity and policy of the Opposition alliance, Modi also said that no matter how good a photo is clicked of a few family members coming together on stage, the trust of the country is not won; the hearts of the people of the country are not won. To win, one must have the passion to serve the nation. That is not visible in the 'Ghamandia Alliance'.

The BJP will also continue to raise questions on the Gandhi family, the Congress and other parties in the Opposition alliance on the issue of corruption.

While sharing the news of cash worth crores recovered from the house of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, Modi posted on X on Friday, "Countrymen should look at the pile of these notes and then listen to the 'honest' speeches of their leaders. Every penny of what has been looted from the public will have to be returned, this is Modi's guarantee.”

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, Dec 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Even though the Congress lost the recent Assembly elections in the three Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, party leaders say that the debacle has not dented the grand old party’s prospects and bargaining power for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the INDIA bloc.

According to a senior party leader, who did not wish to be named, "The results of the three states are no doubt disheartening but it does not prove that the Congress has been wiped out."

He said that the Congress still remains the main force against the BJP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and the grand old party has a presence in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan where the regional parties have no foothold.

When reminded that the Congress is in power only in Himachal Pradesh in northern India and in Jharkhand and Bihar it is in alliance with regional partners, the party leader said, “There is no doubt that we have to contest election in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh in alliance as regional parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Samajwadi Party are strong there.”

A party source also echoed the leader’s sentiments and said, "We have to accept the ground reality that the regional parties are strong in these states and the Congress needs to get their support."

However, the source added that after Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, the presence of the Congress is in all other states and in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in particular it is the main opponent of the BJP.

The source said that the party presents a direct threat to the BJP in North India and it will definitely give it a challenge.

The source said that when seat sharing talks begin for the states in the INDIA bloc, the results of the recent Assembly polls will have no effect on the grand old party's bargaining power.

Another party leader, meanwhile, said that dealing with the AAP and the Samajwadi Party would not be easy given the rocky relations in the last few months.

The party leader said that the AAP, which is in power in Delhi and Punjab, will have to come to a consensus on the seats in these two states.

The leader said that the Congress has been the main party in Punjab against the AAP, while in Delhi besides the AAP it also has to face the BJP which had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national Capital.

The party leader further said that all the issues between the alliance partners will be discussed during the seat sharing talks.

On Wednesday evening, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge chaired a meeting with the INDIA bloc floor leaders and it was decided to call the next meeting of the alliance in the third week of December to chalk out the strategy for 2024 and initiate the talks for seat sharing.

After the third meeting of the INDIA bloc in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1, it announced that it would form a 14 member coordination committee and 19-member Election Strategy Committee to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The INDIA bloc’s 14-member coordination committee is constituted of the Congress' KC Venugopal, the NCP's Sharad Pawar, the DMK's TR Baalu, JMM's Hemant Soren, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, the RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, the Trinamool Congress’ Abhishek Banerjee, the AAP's Raghav Chaddha, Samajwadi Party's Javed Ali Khan, the JD(U)'s Lallan Singh, the CPI's D Raja, the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah and the PDP's Mehbooba Mufti. The CPI(M) will give the name of their party leader for the committee later.

The alliance’s campaign committee comprises of the Congress' Gurdeep Singh Sappal, the JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha, the Shiv Sena's Anil Desai, the RJD's Sanjay Yadav, the NCP's PC Chako, JMM’s Champai Soren, Samajwadi Party's Kiranmoy Nanda, AAP's Sanjay Singh, CPI(M)'s Arun Kumar, CPI's Binoy Vishwam, National Conference's Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi, RLD's Shahid Siddiqui, RSP's NK Premachandran, AIFB's G Devarajan, CPI-ML's Ravi Rai, the VCK’s Thirumavalavan, the IUML's KM Kadar Moidin, KC(M)'s Jose K Mani as its members. The TMC is yet to give a name for the panel.

Source: IANS

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Kolkata, Dec 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) As the Trinamool Congress has launched a multi-pronged attack against the Congress over the BJP’s landslide victories in the just-concluded Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, there is confusion in the grand Opposition INDIA bloc on the possible strategy of the ruling party in West Bengal.

There is speculation in political circles of the state that the ruling party’s “attack Congress” strategy is aimed at compelling the grand old party to agree to a seat sharing agreement dictated by the Trinamool Congress.

This “attack Congress” strategy is also prompted by the inherent desire to neutralise the Congress’ authoritative bargaining within the INDIA bloc as the biggest national party in the joint platform.

However, political observers say that the success of the Trinamool Congress’ attempts to sideline the Congress in the Opposition space will ultimately depend on how far West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s strategy will find support from other regional parties in the INDIA bloc.

Political observers say that the latest results in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana hold major lessons for the entire Opposition bloc and specially the Congress.

In all four states the voters decided to opt for a national party rather than a regional party, a factor that has gone in favour of the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and in favour of the Congress in Telangana.

“So, if the other regional parties can read these signals, I wonder how far they will toe the line of the Trinamool Congress in challenging the Congress’ authority in the Opposition bloc. So, in my opinion, the ‘attack Congress’ strategy of the Trinamool Congress will not achieve anything substantial except adding to the confusion within the Opposition bloc,” said a city-based political observer.

At the same time, the logic put forward by Mamata Banerjee while explaining the results of the Assembly polls is baffling the observers.

“She has described the BJP’s landslide victory in these three states as the Congress’ defeat and not the defeat of the people. However, after the Congress’ emphatic victory in Karnataka Assembly polls earlier this year she refused to give credit to the country’s oldest national party and had described the results as the victory of the people. So it is quite difficult for anyone to understand which of the two explanations should be accepted as the Trinamool Congress’ official stand on the Congress and the INDIA bloc. This is yet another point of confusion for the other constituents of the Opposition platform,” a political observer said.

That is exactly where a section within the state unit of the Congress in West Bengal, who are dyed-in-the wool anti-Trinamool Congress politicians, are getting the chance to claim that the actual motive of the Chief Minister and her party is to challenge the Congress’ authority and thus weaken the INDIA bloc in order to benefit the BJP.

Such state Congress leaders like Calcutta High Court counsel Kaustav Bagchi, who had been opposing inclusion of the Trinamool Congress in the INDIA bloc since the beginning, have already started claiming that the Congress’ defeat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh was because of their earlier efforts to join hands with "corrupt forces."

"It is often said that while one achieves heaven in good company, one gets doomed in bad company. The results are reflection of the public sentiments against sharing the dais with thieves and dacoits. A Congress-free India will not be far if the party does not try to stand on its feet instead of depending on others like a parasite. If such a day comes, then the responsibility will be more on us than on the BJP," Bagchi said just hours after the trend in these three states became clear last Sunday.

“A dinner-meet called at the residence of the Congress’ national President Mallikarjun Kharge was totally unrepresented by the Trinamool Congress. This gave a clear indication that West Bengal’s ruling party will remain in the attack mode for some more time. Now, it is to be seen how long the rebellion continues, since much will depend on the moods of the other regional parties on this count,” a city-based political observer said.

Source: IANS

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Chennai, Dec 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The clean sweep of three important north Indian states by the BJP has not significantly impacted the prospects of the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in South India, and in Tamil Nadu in particular, as it is the heart of Dravidian culture.

However, experts believe that the BJP’s victory in three out of five states will serve as a morale booster for the saffron party in Tamil Nadu, a state that elects 40 members for the Lok Sabha.

Even though the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) severed ties with the BJP, the saffron party might register a win in one of the constituencies, according to political analysts.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, though not able to match the stature of late CMs M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalitha, is slowly and steadily consolidating his position in the state's political scenario.

The DMK cadres are celebrating the fact that the BJP has been pushed out of South India and the Congress has achieved a victory in Telangana.

Kirthika Tharan, a political activist, and psychologist, explained to IANS that the results of three north Indian states were a little upsetting and were not expected. However, the BJP, as a Hindutva party, is wiped out from South India.

“We hope that the people of north India change their mindset. We want to learn the Hindi language, as Dravidians want to bring about awareness on our ideologies in North India,” she stated.

“The DMK will win 39 to 40 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The party can’t be challenged right now. They are strong in social service, and the people are getting a monthly allowance of Rs 2,000. The people are happy with the DMK,” she said.

The AIADMK is considered the ‘B team’ of the BJP, similar to how the BRS and former CM KC Rao were considered in Telangana. Even after ten years, the AIADMK’s Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and former CM is still looking weak opposite Stalin, maintained Kirthika Tharan.

After Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha though, politicians couldn’t take their place. CM Stalin is at least trying but EPS is falling short. In fact, it was not easy for EPS to rise against VK Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran too. He is in the forefront now but looks weak opposite CM Stalin, she added.

Undoubtedly, everyone knows CM Stalin, and there is no controversy surrounding him. Though there are controversies, he personally stands out, she said.

The BJP and the RSS are trying to build the party from the grassroots level in a planned manner. The BJP is investing heavily in the state, and party workers claim that they are paid on a monthly basis. Once the party workers join the BJP, they will be indoctrinated with Hindu ideology, she stated.

“We can’t ignore the BJP. All attempts are being made to build a party base in Tamil Nadu. They are all set to win a seat. They are trying to create situations like Manipur and Mangaluru in Tamil Nadu,” she opined.

The BJP might get 2 per cent to 5 per cent of those people’s votes who always vote for new parties, Kirthika Tharan stated.

Jayakumar Sundandhirapandiyan, a senior journalist, told IANS that the Dravidian parties are the most influential in Tamil Nadu.

“The Dravida movement itself says that ‘we are one’. They say that we are South Indians and never claim themselves as Tamils. After the Congress’ victory in Telangana, the political parties and people believe that the BJP can never have influence in the South. That confidence has grown huge, and it is the general mood here,” Jayakumar Sundandhirapandiyan said.

“People believe that the BJP can never enter South Indian states. In the forthcoming elections as well, the same trend will continue in Tamil Nadu. The AIADMK is already out of its alliance with the BJP. This election brings good hope to party cadres as well. Earlier, they believed that the alliance with the BJP had not helped them win elections,” he stated.

“The DMK believes that the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls are for electing the central government and the AIADMK does not have a face to project in these elections. The DMK is in the INDIA bloc and because of that they can go to the people and tell them that they will work closely with national parties and form the government at the Centre and benefit the state,” Jayakumar explained.

The DMK believes that the AIADMK does not have anything to promise the people in the national elections, he added.

“The people of Tamil Nadu view the victory of the BJP as a win in state elections. In Tamil Nadu, no national party has ruled for a long time. So, the state elections are always seen to be fought on state issues. It is their belief that when it comes to national elections, the Congress will gain momentum. They have hope in the Congress alliance,” Jayakumar opined.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai and the party workers are telling people that the saffron party has won in three states out of five. They are claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image is growing in Tamil Nadu.

The BJP camp also maintains that in Karnataka the party can come back anytime and bag more seats in Telangana too.

Whether these claims come true or not for the BJP in South India, only time can tell.

Source: IANS

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Patna, Dec 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Congress’ loss in Assembly elections in three states has come as a boon for regional parties like the RJD and the JD(U) in Bihar.

The RJD think tank now believes that the Congress will no longer be in a position to dictate terms to the regional parties in the Opposition’s INDIA bloc after the poor show in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

“We formed the INDIA bloc with the basic aim to contest elections on the formula of one seat, one candidate. However, this was not the case in the just-concluded Assembly elections in the three states and the Congress party went alone thinking that it is strong in those states,” said RJD senior leader Chitranjan Gagan.

"If the grand old party had taken leaders like Akhilesh Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav along in seat sharing and during the election campaigns, it would have presented a picture of a united INDIA bloc to the voters and they would have cast their votes differently. But it was not the case and the Congress did not perform well despite its vote percentage remaining the same,” he said.

“Now that the Congress party has lost elections in the three states where it went alone, we are hopeful that it will agree to form poll strategies according to the prominence of political parties in different states.

"For example, the RJD and the JD(U) are the more prominent political parties in Bihar than the Congress and hence the strategy should be made according to them. Similarly, the TMC is strong in West Bengal and so is the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, so they should sit in the driver's seat in the elections in these states.

“Similarly, the Congress party has more influence in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and now Telangana, so the Congress should lead the INDIA bloc in those states. If the Lok Sabha elections are contested on these lines, the BJP can be defeated,” Gagan said.

“We have also analysed the results in the three states and discovered that the saffron party won the contest due to multiple factors, including the shortcomings of the Congress party which did not give respect to regional parties, the discrepancies in EVMs and poor media management.

"Many people are saying why did EVM discrepancies arise only in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and why not in Telangana? I want to say that the BJP follows the rules of traders. If you win everywhere then people would challenge you. But if you win in three states and lose one, then no one can challenge you. The same thing is happening here with the BJP,” Gagan said.

When asked how they would tackle this situation, especially in the Lok Sabha elections which are a do or die battle for the BJP, Gagan said, “Enhancing the percentage of votes in favour of INDIA is the only solution.”

When asked if the bargaining power of the RJD and the JD(U) was enhanced now, Gagan said that the Congress understands the importance of regional parties and this is the reason why the INDIA bloc was formed.

“The Congress top leadership was dependent on Kamal Nath and he failed to analyse the importance of regional parties. Overconfidence sometimes hurts you and the same thing happened with the Congress party,” he said.

Reacting to Lalu Prasad Yadav who said Rahul Gandhi was the “groom”, Gagan said that the RJD leader did not say that Rahul Gandhi would be the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc.

“Our alliance is not like the BJP where only Narendra Modi and Amit Shah control all power. Saying that Rahul Gandhi is the ‘groom’ is not like this. We have a clear view that the prime minister will be elected post the Lok Sabha election results,” Gagan said.

Source: IANS

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