Amid Nitish's Blow to INDIA Bloc, Congress in Damage Control Mode; Reaches Out to SP, TMC

Amid speculation of JDU chief Nitish Kumar’s exit from Mahagathbandhan in Bihar and possibly from the grand INDI alliance as well, attributed majorly to the Congress’s failure to unite the regional parties on the seat-sharing arrangement, the grand old party seems to have gotten into the damage control mode.

The Congress is now reaching out to major regional parties like Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in an attempt to keep the alliance in place ahead of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

Congress-Samajwadi Party Seat Sharing Understanding

In a social media post on Saturday, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav asserted that the alliance with Congress is off to a good start with consensus on 11 strong seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said that this trend will only move forward with the winning equation and reiterated confidence in the ‘INDIA’ team and ‘PDA’ strategy. The state sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament and elections are due in April-May.

This came a day after Yadav blamed the Congress for the ongoing fissures within the INDIA bloc and said that the enthusiasm the party needed to show in discussing and engaging with alliance partners was not visible.

Congress Reaches Out to Mamata Banerjee

Amid bad news likely from Bihar, the Congress is attempting to secure the grand alliance in West Bengal by reaching out to Mamata Banerjee. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday spoke to Trinamool Congress supremo to find a solution to the seat-sharing impasse in the state.

The efforts to reach out to Mamata’s party came after TMC’s announcement that no INDIA seat-sharing talks were on in Bengal and that the party would contest the Lok Sabha polls alone in the state.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh spoke to Banerjee once again and requested her presence in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ as a show of opposition unity.

“Without her, we cannot fight the BJP in Bengal and the rest of the country. She is the integral, essential pillar of the opposition bloc INDIA. She has played a crucial role in making the INDIA bloc a reality,” Ramesh earlier said.’

Notably, former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel was appointed as Senior Observer to coordinate the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Bihar.

INDIA’s Bihar Crisis

Recent political activities in Bihar have once again ignited speculations that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar might be considering switching sides and returning to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in less than two years after the controversial breakup with its saffron partner.

The Bihar CM indicated that he is contemplating parting ways with the Mahagathbandhan, which consists of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress party.

Top leaders of the JD(U) on Saturday rushed to the residence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the party president, amid strong indications that he was planning to quit the ruling ‘Mahagathbandhan.’