For quite some time, there’s been no action on the INDIA front. The alliance instead has been in news for having exposed imminent cracks (not chinks, mind you) in its armour and this is not good news for the alliance.
It was clearly evident when Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar made an outburst recently, “The Congress seems to be more interested in the five assembly polls,” he said, confirming some reports that the Grand Old Party was waiting for the results so that it could bargain for more seats.
“In the INDIA coalition, all of us had agreed to assign the Congress the leading role. But it appears they will respond and call the next meeting only after they are through with the ongoing elections,” Nitish said.
It must be noted that Nitish had taken special initiative and had hosted the first meeting of the Opposition alliance in June.
So far, the alliance, which took shape on the initiative of Bihar CM has had only three meetings – first in Patna, followed by Bengaluru, and then Mumbai. However, after the third meeting on August 31 to September 1, there seems to be a brake on the pace of parleys.
Differences over venue: Also recently, there has been a difference of opinion in INDIA bloc over the venue of its fourth meeting, with many parties accusing the Congress of trying to dominate. The Congress has been insisting on a meeting in any city in the poll-bound states of Chhattisgarh or Madhya Pradesh.
However, parties such as Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (U), NCP and others want the meeting to be held in the capital.
The Samajwadi Party, which has already had a brush with the Congress regarding Lok Sabha seats in UP was upset at the Congress’ apparent highhandedness over the choice of the venue and had said it should not create an impression that the Congress is trying to assume an elder brother’s role in the Opposition alliance.
However, the Congress has clearly refuted this charge and instead emphasised that victory by any member of the coalition will only bolster and contribute to the strength and success of the INDIA bloc.
It may be recalled that during the meeting in Mumbai, the general consensus was to organise the next meeting in Bhopal.
But soon after the coordination committee meeting at Delhi, the idea to organise the Bhopal rally was cancelled following the massive nationwide row over the Sanatan Dharma issue which was triggered by the alliance partner DMK.
“The modalities and date of the meeting are yet to be finalised, though the decision was to hold it sometime in the first fortnight of October. Delhi was also considered in the last meeting but Bhopal remained to be the preferred choice for many leaders,” Congress had mentioned.
Trouble after trouble: In fact, there’s been trouble after trouble for the alliance with Nitish Kumar who seems to be increasingly out of track with the RJD playing its usual ‘forward versus backward’ political card. However, there are some brownie points as Nitish received Congress backing on the caste census issue. Meanwhile, on Sunday posters were spotted outside Rabri’s house cheering her son as the future CM of Bihar!
No glue in Bengal: In West Bengal, the INDIA bloc doesn’t seem to be amalgamating especially with the Left not announcing any truck with Mamata Banerjee-led TMC and the Congress maintaining its tempo regarding criticising the TMC on all fronts and at the slightest pretext. Recently, Adhir Choudhury’s criticism of Mamata’s Spain trip did not go down well with the TMC spokesman Kunal Ghosh saying, “He (Adhir) is sounding like a BJP leader…he seems to have a plan to weaken the INDIA alliance.”
On Sunday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav triggered another political storm by calling the Congress a ‘chalu’ party and urged the voters to stay away from the Grand Old Party and also alleged that Congress’ poll cry regarding the caste census was just an eyewash and the party did nothing about it during its regime. He, instead, said that the SP was serious regarding the welfare of the backward and he alleged that both the Congress and the BJP had an agenda in this regard.
Thrones of thorns?: Also, there were serious issues regarding seat sharing in UP for the Lok Sabha between the SP and the Congress recently and this initiated a series of verbal spats and remarks by Yadav against his political allies within the Opposition alliance.
It may be recalled that the Congress had initially denied seats to the Samajwadi Party in Madhya Pradesh, asserting that the INDIA bloc was primarily intended for national politics and not for regional polls. In response, Yadav said this was ‘betrayal.’
This political rift between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party has presented an opportunity for the BJP to criticise the INDIA bloc. Following such a series of rifts, the Saffron party said the alliance was showing signs of disintegration even before its formation. Piyush Goyal even quipped on Sunday that the parties within the alliance were competing against each other in various State assembly elections, transforming the once-hyped alliance into an ‘indie zero’ coalition.
(The writer is a Senior Journalist and former Senior Associate Editor, O Heraldo)
