Buffeted by debacles, INDIA bloc totters as Congress braces for winter of discontent

Talking to The Indian Express, a senior Congress leader said such posts are “avoidable” but added “such ideological contradictions in the alliance are inevitable”. He said a churn in the Sena (UBT) too is certain to happen given the MVA’s defeat in the recent Assembly elections in Maharashtra. “We all suffered a defeat…but I don’t know…maybe the Sena (UBT) is thinking that they should return to Hindutva. But so far, we have not seen any concrete indication of that,” he said.

The Congress central leadership is keenly watching the moves of the Sena (UBT) but believes the imperatives of local politics at times may force some of the regional parties to take certain ideological or electoral positions, which although may come as an “irritant” but would not undermine the INDIA bloc, which is a national alliance.

“We formed the INDIA alliance to fight the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. We continue our fight. But in the states, some of the parties fight against each other. We fight the CPM in Kerala; the CPM and the Congress fight the TMC in Bengal; we may fight the AAP in Delhi – So all that is there. There are ideological differences too, but the larger goal is to fight the BJP at the national level,” a senior Congress leader said.

The bravado notwithstanding, the Congress, the de facto head of the INDIA bloc, is under pressure over the grouping’s functioning months after the Lok Sabha elections, especially in the wake of their debacle in the Haryana and Maharashtra polls.

Mamata’s barb has come at a time when parties like the SP and the NCP(SP) have distanced themselves from the Congress’s protests in Parliament over the Adani issue during the ongoing winter session. The leaders of some other INDIA parties also feel that the Opposition should not be fixated on one issue.

Not just that. The SP believes the INDIA alliance now existed largely “only in the media”. On the other hand, CPI general secretary D Raja says the Left parties were not being accommodated in the alliance as they should have been by larger parties when it came to seat-sharing.

He believes that the Congress should introspect.

Earlier this week, the Sena (UBT), too, asked the Congress to introspect and take steps for Opposition unity, referring to the AAP’s declaration that it will go solo in the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls. “In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is trying to do politics by keeping Congress at a distance. Now (AAP chief) Kejriwal is also treading the same path. This is a matter where the Congress has to introspect and take steps for (Opposition) unity,” an editorial in the Sena (UBT)’s mouthpiece Saamna said Tuesday.

The Congress did not officially comment on Mamata’s remarks. “The TMC had not been attending meetings of the INDIA bloc floor leaders in Parliament. When we ask them, their leaders say TMC is not in INDIA bloc. And then Mamata says she is ready to lead the alliance,” a party leader said. “The Congress cannot take a view or make a comment on this. All these issues have to be discussed in the alliance,” he added.

While the Congress and some of the other INDIA parties remained cautious, the SP said it did not have any objection to Mamata’s statement.

SP national spokesperson Udaiveer Singh told The Indian Express: “Mamata Banerjee ji is a senior leader and we are satisfied with her leadership and her struggle. We could have no objection. But it has to be decided by the leaders of the INDIA bloc. We would like her to play a more active and good role in the alliance. We have no objection.”

– With inputs from Lalmani Verma