Rahul wants West Bengal Congress to strengthen party ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha polls

The hard choice before the Congress managers is whether to choose either the Left parties or TMC or work out a pact with both, writes ETV Bharat's Amit Agnihotri.

New Delhi:Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and incumbent Mallikarjun Kharge have asked the teams of West Bengal and Odisha to strengthen the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls even as a special five-member party panel will soon start exploring alliances with like-minded parties.

Of the two states, West Bengal is more crucial as ally Trinamool Congress is in power there as compared to the BJD which rules Odisha. Over the past years, the West Bengal unit has been against having a poll pact with the TMC saying the ruling party grew at the cost of the Congress and has been more inclined towards the Left parties. Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the hard choice before the Congress managers is whether to choose either the Left parties or TMC or work out a pact with both.

“Rahul Gandhi and Kharge have asked us to strengthen the party in West Bengal. An action programme would soon be launched to take up the people’s issues and strengthen the party. We have to strengthen the progressive forces. The INDIA alliance can defeat the BJP in the state and across the country but it is for the high command to take a final call over the 2024 alliances,” AICC in-charge of West Bengal Chella Kumar told this channel.

In the past, the Congress has had poll pacts with both the TMC and the Left parties at various times. “We had a tie-up with the TMC in 2011. It did not bring any results though,” said a senior AICC functionary. Since then, the Congress and the Left parties have been together. However, in the 2021 Assembly polls, which was mainly a contest between the TMC and the BJP, both the Congress and the Left parties failed to get even a single seat.

The issue of alliances has gained momentum once again with the formation of the opposition alliance INDIA to take on the BJP in the 2024 national polls. Accordingly, Kharge has formed a five-member panel comprising Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Salman Khurshid, Mohan Prakash and Mukul Wasnik to discuss seat-sharing with the INDIA partners.

Before the panel gets down to work, Rahul and Kharge reviewed the ground-level situation and the party’s Lok Sabha preparations along with senior West Bengal leaders on Dec 20. During the meet, state unit chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who has been quite vocal against TMC chief Mamata Banerjee remained silent but the other state leaders expressed their concerns over joining hands with the ruling party.

According to party insiders, the state leaders are open to an alliance in seven or eight seats, if needed. In 2019, the Congress won just two of the 42 parliamentary seats in West Bengal. In Odisha, too, a weak party has been a concern with the high command which reviewed the Lok Sabha preparations, along with senior state leaders on December 20 and asked them to launch protests across the state. In 2019, the Congress could win just 1 of the 21 parliamentary seats.

“Rahul Gandhi and Kharge have asked us to strengthen the party in the state. Our agitational programmes will be launched soon. We are going to target corruption in the BJD government in a big way besides lack of development by the ruling party,” AICC in-charge of Odisha Chella Kumar told ETV Bharat.