New Delhi: The Congress has tweaked its strategy by scaling down the demand for seats to strengthen the INDIA bloc in poll-bound Maharashtra and Jharkhand.
The change in strategy has been adopted after the recent poll losses in Haryana and UT Jammu and Kashmir where the Congress performance was below expectations and to make the allies comfortable in the election-bound states to counter the saffron party.
According to party insiders, the Congress managers have reduced their demand from 125 out of 288 seats a few months ago to 105-110 in Maharashtra where the grand old party is negotiating a seat-sharing pact with allies Shiv Sena UBT, NCP-SP and SP.
The aim was to accommodate not only the SP, which was asking for four seats, but also to send positive signals to both Sena UBT and NCP-SP.
In Jharkhand, the Congress had agreed to reduce its demand from 33 out of 81 seats to 29 during the consultations that took place over the past weeks against the 31 seats it contested in 2019.
As per the agreement, the JMM was to contest 43 seats which was the same as in 2019 elections with RJD getting 5 seats instead of 7 in 2019 to accommodate new entrant CPI-ML which was given four seats.
However, the JMM was now asking for two more seats for ex-BJP MLA Kedar Hazra and ex-AJSU MLA Chandan Kiyari, who had joined the ruling party recently, putting pressure on the Congress managers.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was expected to sort out the seat-sharing issues with JMM leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren during his visit to the tribal state on Saturday. On Friday, Soren discussed the alliance with RJD leader Tejasvi Yadav and with CPI-ML leaders Arup Chatterjee and Bablu Mahto, said Congress insiders.
"Even before the seat-sharing was done, the alliance was on the ground to explain the achievement of the coalition government to the voters. The ruling coalition has taken several pro-poor measures over the past few days and they need to be publicised. The BJP had tried to dent tribal pride by destabilising the ruling alliance but we stood together," All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in-charge of Jharkhand Saptagiri Ulaka told ETV Bharat.
In Maharashtra, AICC in-charge Ramesh Chennithala met with former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackery to finalise the seat-sharing formula which had been stuck over distribution of seats in capital Mumbai and a few seats in the Vidarbha region where the Congress has been strong for years.
"The Congress Central Election Committee will meet on October 20 during which around 60 candidates are expected to be cleared. The first list may also be announced the same day," AICC secretary in-charge of Maharashtra BM Sandeep told ETV Bharat.
According to Congress insiders, seat-sharing talks were in an advanced stage and would be announced in a few days. After that, the focus would shift to coordinate joint campaigns across the state.
"The Congress is strong in the Vidarbha and Marathwada regions where we expect to win several seats. The idea is that all the INDIA bloc partners gain from each other's strength in different areas and defeat the BJP together," said Sandeep.
