New Delhi: Against the backdrop of major claims made by INDIA bloc leaders of defeating BJP in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, a senior political expert on Monday said that it’s regional interests and politics dominating national politics. “All the political parties look after their interests for their survival. The regional level politics is different from the national level understanding. If we see an understanding among two different parties at the national level, the same parties might have differences at the regional level. And this is what we are witnessing among most INDIA bloc partners,” said senior political expert and professor at Delhi University Prof (Dr) Anil Kumar Thakur while speaking to ETV Bharat.
He, however, said that had there been total unity amongst all the INDIA bloc partners, they could have also given a strong challenge to the BJP at the state level. State leaders of united opposition also claimed that opposition parties’ attempt to contest the Lok Sabha polls unitedly in the states fell apart due to lack of understanding.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Bhupen Bora said that as many as 16 parties had formed the United Opposition Forum Assam (UOFA) much before the INDIA bloc was constituted. It’s only due to an indifferent attitude that three parties of the forum are contesting the Lok Sabha polls directly, said Borah.
Due to lack of opposition unity, three constituents of the united opposition in Assam namely the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the CPI(M) are fighting alone. However, almost all the prominent leaders of the INDIA bloc, who gathered together at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday, vowed to dethrone the BJP from power in the forthcoming elections.
Leaders from Congress, AAP, CPI-M and all other constituents of the INDIA bloc appealed to the people to choose the united opposition to “save democracy.” The AAP is contesting separately in Assam. There was no understanding between TMC, Congress and Left parties in West Bengal. Similarly, in Kerala, too, Congress and CPI-M are fighting against each other.
Prof Kumar, however, said that in states like Kerala where the BJP does not hold any significance, the INDIA bloc alliance fighting against each other does not carry significance. “In the absence of BJP, the victory of either Congress or Left in Kerala means a victory of INDIA bloc,” he said.
Recently, as many as five Congress district presidents from West Bengal have written a letter to party president Mallikarjun Kharge accusing CPI-M of giving those seats where the party (Congress) has the least chance of winning. The letter seen by ETV Bharat was also forwarded to senior Congress leaders like Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal and Adhir Ranjan Choudhary.
“It is indeed very much shocking and disappointing for the Congress workers and leaders in West Bengal to know about the seats (Constituency) which the Left Front (CPIM and others) left for Congress to contest. Most of the seats which are being given to the Congress Party are seats where the party has least chances of winning,” the Congress leaders stated.
They said that the workers and leaders are very much confused and in complete darkness regarding the agenda of the Indian National Congress for alliances with other political parties like TMC, CPIM and others. “All these whimsical and haphazard decisions are jeopardising the existence of this age-old Congress party in West Bengal,” the leaders said.
Accusing that no consultation has been made so far with the Congress District Presidents in West Bengal regarding the alliance and other things related to the upcoming Loksabha elections 2024, the leaders said, “It is known to all of us that AICC made a Pradesh Election Committee for selection of candidates for the upcoming Loksabha elections 2024. All the party workers, members and leaders want to know whether any sort of consultation was made with the said committee before selecting candidates.”
Speaking to ETV Bharat, a senior leader from CPI-M and party’s Central Committee member Hannan Mollah said that the differences were bound to happen among all the opposition parties. “In some places, we are strong so the question does not arise of giving those seats to other parties. Similarly, the other opposition parties will also not share their hot seats with their allies,” said Mollah.
Such differences amongst the INDIA bloc partners will certainly go in favour of the BJP, said Mollah. Similarly, the Left Front is also peeved over the Congress for not setting aside enough seats outside Bengal. Sources in the Left Front told this correspondent that CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and D Raja from CPI sought an appointment with Kharge to convey their disappointment on the same.
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