NEW DELHI: An informal agreement between INDIA alliance partners during their coordination committee meeting last month that they should ‘contest together’ in the upcoming assembly polls as also in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be put to test during the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram.
Though most of the 28 parties brought on board the INDIA bloc have limited stakes in the impending polls and Congress remains the key stakeholder defending its territory in Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh, and keen to turn the tide in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, some partners like the CPI, CPM, Samajwadi Party and the Aam Aadmi party, expect to be accommodated in the joint contest mounted against the BJP.
CPI and CPM, for instance, having underscored the need for the “spirit of accommodation”, have pushed for at least a few seats in poll-bound Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Sources said while talks are still underway in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, in Telangana, seat sharing dialogues are at an advanced stage and Congress may concede two seats each for CPI and CPM.
The Samajwadi Party is also keen to field its candidates in all poll-bound states except Telangana and Mizoram. In Madhya Pradesh polls, where SP won one, and finished second against BJP in 5 constituencies in the 2018 polls, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is understood to be keen to field over 20 candidates. However, judging by his party’s last poll performance — SP candidates forfeited their deposits in 45 of 52 seats they contested on in 2018 — it appears unlikely that it will be able to wrangle a bargain it will be happy with.
“Samajwadi Party will contest the elections in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Our claim to be accommodated in seat-sharing talks in MP arises out of a genuine claim based on our past performance. However, we are clear that we will not raise this demand in a manner that impacts the coming together of the INDIA parties,” a senior SP leader told TOI.
For all parties, the eagerness to contest stems from pragmatic concerns. The CPI, for instance, having lost its National Party status this year, is eager to claw its way back among the elite group, where BSP, CPM and AAP sit along-side Congress and BJP.
To earn national status, a party needs to be recognised as state party in four states and have at least two members in the respective legislative assemblies. And in order to be recognised as a state party, it must win two seats and secures a minimum 6% votes in the state.
Though AAP and CPM are not dealing with an existential crisis similar to the one CPI faces, both would like to increase their foothold across states. The SP too hopes to increase its reach across all Hindi-speaking states. With the odds appearing to be stacked in favour of Congress in several of the poll-bound states, as constituents of the INDIA grouping, alliance partners would also like to ride the winning wave for individual gain.
Congress, on the other hand, as the only INDIA bloc party with a stake in all five poll-bound states, will want to put up a robust performance at the hustings to seal its position as the party in charge among the INDIA allies.
The impending assembly polls will serve as a dipstick test for the extent to which Congress will accommodate its junior partners ahead the 2024 Lok Sabha, when the strength of the INDIA bloc to challenge the ruling BJP will be truly put to test.