New Delhi:
With the Lok Sabha elections just months away, the Congress is trying to resolve internal differences within the INDIA bloc and ensure that the alliance poses a strong challenge to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Congress leaders will today hold talks with the Aam Aadmi Party, one of the rifts due to which the Opposition alliance has been able to finalise a seat-sharing plan for 2024 polls.
Since coming together in July last year, the Congress and AAP have exchanged passive-aggressive words on making plans for fighting state and Lok Sabha elections on several occasions.
But to challenge the BJP at the Centre, the Congress would need the support of the AAP, which runs the government in Delhi and Punjab.
Since Congress’ dismal defeats in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, discontent has grown within the INDIA alliance with Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar, Akhilesh Yadav, and Mamata Banerjee skipping some of the meetings called for by Congress.
The Congress, under pressure from its allies, has finally made a move to thrash out the contentious issue of seat-sharing. Sources indicate that the party hopes to finalise the seat-sharing agreements before the next phase of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will begin on January 14.
In Bengal, the INDIA alliance faces another challenge amid a clash between Congress and the Trinamool Congress over seat-sharing, with neither willing to concede.
Both parties have previously fought elections in alliance, including the 2001 assembly polls, 2009 Lok Sabha elections, and 2011 assembly polls. In 2011, the Congress-TMC alliance defeated the 34-year-old Left Front regime in West Bengal.
Several other parties within the INDIA alliance have been working to resolve their differences and fight the elections together.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reached out to his Tamil Nadu counterpart to clarify his remarks on Hindi being the national language at the last INDIA meeting.
Nitish Kumar sparked a debate on language by refusing a translation request during a meeting.