Days after losing Haryana Assembly polls, the Congress is now facing another major problem. None of its INDIA bloc allies is willing to yield as far as ticket distribution for the upcoming polls in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi are concerned and are demanding more seats in these contests.
The grand old party is facing a major headache in these states as its allies want to increase their share of seats set to go for Assembly contests. The defeat of Congress may have taken place in Haryana; however, the grand old party is facing its consequences across the nation. In Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party have indicated to the Congress that they would need a bigger share of seats in the forthcoming contest.
Till a few days ago, the Congress was preparing to keep about 115 seats for itself, while planning at allocating around 80-85 seats for both the allies in the contest for the 288 member Maharashtra Assembly. Earlier, the Congress’ state president Nana Patole had himself indicated this formula. However, after the defeat in Haryana Assembly polls, Uddhav Thackeray is understood to be demanding that Shiv Sena (UBT) play the role of elder brother in the state polls. With Pawar also unlikely to accept the initial offer of the Congress on seat sharing, sources said.
Even in Jharkhand, Chief Minister Hemant Soren is understood to be not keen on allocating more seats to Congress in the forthcoming state elections. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha doesn’t want to increase the seat allocation of its INDIA bloc ally and will maintain its big brother role in the tribal dominated state, sources said.
Moreover, the grand old party is staring at a similar situation in Uttar Pradesh where by polls for 10 Assembly seats are set to take place.
Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav has already released a list of contestants for UP by-elections without even bothering to consult the Congress, sources pointed out.
Interestingly, immediately after the Haryana elections results, Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha had made it clear that the party will contest the forthcoming Delhi Legislative Assembly polls without going into an alliance with the Congress.
While Assembly polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand are likely to take place soon, elections to Delhi legislature are scheduled to take place early next year.
Congress, which was seemingly on the rise after securing 99 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, is apparently now being made to face the harsh reality by its INDIA bloc allies.
Ever since the Haryana polls outcome, most of INDIA bloc allies have attacked the Congress, terming the grand old party’s leadership as “arrogant” and “overconfident”. The allies are trying hard to give a reality check to the Congress, which has often been accused by them of acting in its own self-interest instead of achieving the larger political goal of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The upcoming polls have become interesting as the BJP is expected to go into the electoral contests with an ego boost after a win, while the Congress is left with an unenviable task to reach out and mend fences with its allies.
