INDIA bloc seat-sharing talks delayed as Congress panel presents State units’ wishlist to Kharge

With their INDIA bloc allies breathing down their neck to come up with a seat-sharing formula at the earliest, the Congress’ five-member National Alliance Committee on Thursday briefed Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the consultations they held with the party’s State units, 12 days after their first meeting on December 23.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and current general secretary K.C. Venugopal were also present at the meeting.

“We consulted our State units on how many seats we could contest and how many our allies. We briefed Mr. Kharge, Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Venugopal on our findings. We shall begin discussion with our allies as early as possible and are seeking their convenience to begin the talks,” the committee’s convenor Mukul Wasnik told journalists after the meeting. Two former Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel are also part of the committee. 

Avoiding any deadline

At a meeting of party office-bearers earlier in the day, Mr. Gandhi stressed the need to work closely with the INDIA bloc allies. Mr. Kharge, too, spoke of the need to ensure “micro management” of the voters list. This is a concern raised by several allies, who insist that the seat-sharing formula has to be in place, so that this exercise can be done more closely. 

Mr. Wasnik refused to lay down any deadline to complete the negotiations. “We are cognisant of the fact that we have to complete this exercise at the earliest,” he remarked. However, sources said that the party’s leadership is hoping to have the seat divisions in place by January 20. 

Internal rifts

Mr. Wasnik also ducked questions on several internal contradictions within the INDIA bloc, especially in West Bengal, Delhi, and Punjab. In West Bengal, the Congress has to decide whether it wants to ally with the Left parties or with the Trinamool Congress, since the Left has ruled out being part of an alliance where the TMC is present. In Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party defeated the Congress in the 2022 Assembly elections to form the government and remains its primary political rival in the State.

“See, I will not be in a position to say how we are going to deal with each of the political parties in the alliance,” Mr. Wasnik said, emphasising that such discussions cannot be held publicly. 

Facing allies’ pressure

At the last meeting of INDIA bloc leaders on December 19, the TMC had said, in no uncertain terms, that the seat sharing formula should be in place by December 31. According to sources, the TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’ Brien said during the meeting that 179 days (as on December 19) had already passed since the INDIA bloc’s first meeting on June 23 in Patna, and insisted that no more time can be wasted. That deadline is long past. Amidst sniping between the Congress’ State president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and the TMC’s State leadership, the alliance faces the risk of crashing even before take-off. But so far, the Congress’ central leadership and the TMC’s top rung have maintained their silence on the issue. 

“It seems they need more time. We are committed to the INDIA bloc, so we shall wait for another couple of days,” a senior TMC leader privy to the seat negotiations said. 

The regional parties have uniformly urged the Congress to be more accommodative of their demands. The party will have to brace itself for fights over limited seats in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In Bihar, the Janata Dal (United)-Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance may offer the Congress just four seats; in Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party is expected to lead the talks, the Congress will have to settle for less than ten seats.