The I.N.D.I. Alliance’s future is becoming increasingly questionable. Recently, news emerged of the gap between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, two major parties in the bloc, caused by the collapse of a seat-sharing arrangement for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls. Now, in a stunning double whammy, two more INDI bloc members, CPI(M) and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have expressed their discontent with Congress.
On Thursday, November 2, the Communist Party of India-Marxist [CPI(M)] decided to call off its proposed alliance with the Congress and declared that it would be going solo in the November 30 Telangana Assembly polls. The decision came after Congress failed to respond to its demand for two seats, which are the Wyra and Miryalaguda seats in Telangana.
Miffed with Congress for not being able to honour its commitment on Wyra and Miyalaguda seats, CPI(M) on Thursday announced that there will be no alliance with the Congress for the elections. The Party added that it plans to contest 24 seats solo. Out of these, CPI-M state Secretary T. Veerabhadram on Thursday, announced 17 constituencies where the party will field its candidates and said that they would announce the remaining constituencies and the candidates in a day or two.
The left party, miffed by Congress’ betrayal, also went on to declare that they were willing to contest the poll together with CPI if the party agreed.
The CPI, meanwhile, has decided to wait for two more days for the Congress to announce its final list.
Criticizing the Congress’s approach, Veerabhadram asserted the party had no plans to ally with the CPI-M.
The CPI-M had first sought the constituencies of Paleru and Bhadrachalam, but the Congress had proposed Wyra and Miryalaguda instead, he recalled. Subsequently, the Congress decided to keep the Wyra constituency and assured that it would provide Miryalaguda and an additional Hyderabad seat.
CPI(M) leader Narasingh Rao also slammed the grand old party saying that Congress does not seem serious about the alliance.
Under the seat-sharing agreement, the Congress had committed to reserve two seats each for CPI and CPI-M. However, they were unable to agree on which seats ought to go to the Left parties.
According to reports, Congress has already declared a list of 100 out of 119 candidates in Telangana. While it offered the Hyderabad Old City seat to CPI (M), the leftist party rejected the same as it would have been a tough fight against Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.
Congress not interested in I.N.D.I. Alliance: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar takes a dig at the grand old party
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Thursday, launched an attack on the grand old party by blaming it for lack of progress in preparing for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Speaking at a CPI rally in Patna, Nitish claimed that the I.N.D.I. Alliance had failed to make any significant headway as Congress has prioritized the five-state elections over the future of the Opposition bloc.
“INDIA alliance was formed but nothing much is happening. There are Assembly elections in five states. The Congress party is more interested in those. We were all working together to take forward the Congress party but they are not worried about all this right now. They are busy with the five-state elections,” Nitish said addressing the gathering.
The JD(U) chief further said, “We agreed to assign Congress the leading role. But it appears they will call the next meeting only after they are through with the state elections.”
I.N.D.I. Alliance partners Congress and Samajwadi Party fighting over the seat-sharing formula in MP
CPI(M) and JD(U) are not the first I.N.D.I. Alliance members who are having an issue with Congress, the party that is leading this unholy nexus formed with the sole aim of taking on BJP in the upcoming 2024 general elections.
Lately, I.N.D.I. Alliance partners Congress and Samajwadi Party (SP) have been fighting over the seat-sharing formula for the state assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh slated for next month. Akhilesh Yadav accused the Congress of ‘betrayal’ and fielded 33 candidates in Madhya Pradesh. In retaliation, the leaders of the grand old party and the likes of UP Congress Chief Ajay Rai and Former MP CM Kamal Nath made verbal attacks against the SP party Chief.
Additionally, Yadav also launched attacks on Congress for asking a nationwide caste census asserting that it was being done only for political benefit. While participating in the Lok Jagran Abhiyan program in Hardoi, he asserted that it is a ‘miracle’ that Congress is ‘now’ asking for a caste census.
On its part, the Congress unit in Uttar Pradesh challenged the SP Chief on his home turf by putting up posters portraying ‘Ajay Rai as CM’ and ‘Rahul Gandhi as PM’. It was seen as a tit-for-tat move as just three days earlier SP had installed posters in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow showing Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav as the future prime minister of India.
