New Delhi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday chaired a meeting of top party leaders from across the country to firm up a view on the Lok Sabha alliances amid uncertainty over seat-sharing in states like Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
All AICC state in charge, state unit chiefs and CLP leaders attended the strategy session in which former party chief Rahul Gandhi and senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also present.
The meeting came in the wake of the five-member Congress alliance panel having given a report to Kharge over the seat-sharing prospects but with lack of clarity in states like Punjab, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, where the grand old party has to deal with contentious allies like AAP, SP and TMC respectively.
According to party insiders, the state units in both Delhi and Punjab are against having a pact with the AAP but the Congress MPs in Punjab are in favour of a seat-sharing arrangement with the AAP to stop the BJP and its former ally SAD coming together and occupying political space.
The SAD had pulled out of the NDA over the three anti-farmer laws but may join hands with the BJP just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress MPs reportedly told the alliance panel.
The Congress holds eight of the total 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and may leave the remaining five for AAP.
In Delhi, all the seven Lok Sabha seats are held by the BJP but there is no clarity if the Congress will get three or four seats in the alliance.
According to party insiders, the Congress is claiming four seats but the AAP is willing only to party with three seats citing the relative strength of the two parties in the state assembly. The Congress has no MLA.
Similarly, in West Bengal the state unit wants to continue its alliance with the CPI-M and is against any pact with the TMC which has been poaching leaders of the grand old party and targeting its workers in the past years.
Like Delhi, both the Congress and the CPI-M drew a blank in the 2021 assembly polls in West Bengal. According to party insiders, the state leaders told the alliance panel that if the Congress gets around 7 or 8 Lok Sabha seats out of the total 42 in West Bengal, the committee may move ahead on seat-sharing talks otherwise it would be better to go with the CPI-M.
In Uttar Pradesh too where organizational strength has been a concern with the Congress, the state leaders were not able to convey a clear view before the alliance panel, saying that state unit chief Ajay Rai was totally immersed in the UP Jodo Yatra, which is passing through western parts of the state and will culminate in capital Lucknow on Jan 6.
According to party insiders, UP in charge Avinash Pande will attend the yatra concluding event on Jan 6 and will discuss the seat-sharing prospects with the state leaders.
“The earlier we decide on the alliance the better. The problem is trying to get both SP and BSP on board while they are not ready for it,” a senior AICC functionary said.
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