JDU’s Nitish Kumar was down with a fever, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav had prior commitments, and DMK’s MK Stalin was busy getting a handle on the flood situation in Tamil Nadu. These were some of the reasons cited by top leaders of the INDIA bloc for failing to attend the alliance meet on Wednesday, 6 December, which came just three days after the Congress party’s staggering loss in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan elections. The alliance meet was then postponed, and instead a parliamentary strategy meeting in light of the ongoing winter session was held at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence.
While the Congress leadership termed the meeting as constructive, the lack of participation of important leaders did ring alarm bells over the chill that may have set in the INDIA bloc after the party’s loss.
To amend the situation, Revanth Reddy was asked by the party high command to invite CMs and top leaders of the INDIA bloc to his oath-taking ceremony in Telangana. The ceremony, which took place on Thursday, however, didn’t see any non-Congress CMs show up. The only prominent non-Congress representative at the event was TMC’s Derek O’Brien.
On Friday, however, things took a different turn. The opposition seemed to flock together in support of TMC’s Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha in light of the 'cash-for-query case'. This show of solidarity revealed the need for opposition parties to stick together, despite underlying tensions over seat-sharing, and election strategising.
Not Just Losses, Win In Telangana Also Likely To Hurt Congress In INDIA Negotiations
Explaining her absence at Wednesday's INDIA meet, Banerjee had told reporters that the meeting was decided very last minute and so it was impossible for her to make it, but that she will participate whenever the meeting is held next. Congress sources told The Quint that the next INDIA meet is now scheduled for the third week of December.
Sources also said that multiple parties including the AAP and Samajwadi Party are now growing restless over the lack of any concrete seat-sharing talks in the previous meetings. AAP’s Raghav Chaddha brought that up in Wednesday’s parliamentary strategy meet as well. It is highly likely that the Congress will have to concede more than it was willing to, in terms of state-wise seat sharing arrangements, than it was previously willing to, given the assembly election results.
Not just the three losses in the Hindi heartland, regional parties will not react too nicely to Congress’ win in Telangana. The party has gained at the expense of KCR’s BRS (previously TRS) in the state. Even in Karnataka, the party had squeezed out the regional JD(S), to form the government earlier this year.
The Congress has largely failed to touch BJP’s voter base, and election after election has shown that it is the SC, ST, Muslim vote that the party benefits most from. Regional parties would now be wary of allowing much room for Congress to enter their stronghold states and regions, for this very reason.
Regional Players In INDIA Blame Congress For Not Being Accommodative
Leaders of opposition parties began making jibes at the Congress soon after the election results. SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, in an event addressing the masses earlier this week said, “Ab parinaam aa gaya hai toh ahankar bhi khatam ho gaya. Aane wale samay mein phir rasta niklega (Now that the results are out, the ego has also ended. In the coming days, a new way forward will be found).”
Yadav had already had a war of words with Congress ahead of the elections in MP. The Congress had refused to share seats with the SP in MP, stating that the party doesn’t have a following there. In turn, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had accused the Congress of “cheating” and “betrayal” and said that he now knows the INDIA alliance is limited to national level only.
Now, the SP leader is likely to concede little to nothing in Uttar Pradesh, where Congress’ influence is limited only to a few seats. Sources said that the SP will not propose any seats for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh but will have the party come up with a detailed proposal, for the SP to either approve or dismiss.
Banerjee too had said in so many words that the Congress lost because of its failure to accommodate regional parties. “The Congress has won Telangana. They would have won Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan too. INDIA parties cut some votes and this is the truth. We had suggested a seat-sharing arrangement. They lost because of division of votes,” Banerjee said. National Conference’s Omar Abdullah asserted the same. “What would have they lost if they had given 5-7 seats to Akhilesh Yadav... They have lost anyway,” he had said.
Regional parties rushing to condemn the Congress for not being accommodative in the three state elections signals that these parties will use the losses as a bargaining chip, to prevent Congress from asking for a lion’s share in any of their states ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
INDIA Comes Together For Mahua Moitra
Despite these signs of tension emerging within the INDIA bloc, the opposition parties need to stick together for other tactical reasons too. This was evidenced by the manner in which opposition leaders stood in solidarity with TMC’s Mahua Moitra who was expelled from the Lok Sabha on Friday, after Ethics Panel's recommendation over cash-for-query row. Opposition INDIA bloc leaders questioned the Lok Sabha Ethics Panel recommendation for expelling Moitra, and accused the BJP-led government of doing "vendetta politics".
“Heavens would not have fallen if we were given 3-4 day to read this report and present our argument in a proper manner,” Congress leader Manish Tewari said in the parliament. He also stated that the Ethics Panel can only recommend and not pass a sentence on a leader. “The person against whom allegations were levelled (Moitra) wasn’t even allowed to present her case...This goes against the principles of natural justice,” Tewari said.
The parliament session soon got suspended after ruckus broke out, but several opposition leaders still stood next to Moitra as she gave her statements to the media. In a powerful visual, multiple opposition leaders including Congress’ Sonia Gandhi, notably, can be seen standing behind Moitra. Congress’ Shashi Tharoor was among those who gave statements to media in solidarity with Moitra. “Opposition, all the INDIA Alliance parties are completely convinced that this is a travesty of justice," Tharoor said.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury too questioned the BJP over its position. "Why does this government do revenge politics? PM Modi talks well but I don't understand why's there so much difference in his speech and actions. What was such a huge mistake that suspension from the house was needed?" Chowdhury told ANI.
Congress Might Attempt To Pushback
Congress sources, however, said the party refuses to play on back-foot. “Yes, we didn’t do well in the three states. But it isn’t like if we had allied with SP we would have won Madhya Pradesh. SP performed so poorly in the state. All parties must remember their place and be realistic in their assessment,” said a Congress leader.
While so far no party or leader has officially been declared as the face of the INDIA alliance, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have de facto been running most of the show. For instance, earlier this year, an INDIA meet was re-scheduled purely because Gandhi was out of the country at the time. Gandhi has neither an official post in INDIA bloc or even in the Congress party, but he occupies a central figure within INDIA. That might have to change now, as other parties will try to leverage the circumstances in their favor.
For instance, soon after the results on 3 November, AAP leader Jasmine Shah tweeted, “After today’s results, @AamAadmiParty emerges as the largest opposition party in north India with 2 state governments - Punjab and Delhi.” This was evidently a jibe at the Congress, which enjoys solo reign in just one north Indian state now: Himachal Pradesh.
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