New Delhi: The Congress wants the opposition alliance INDIA should conclude seat-sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections after the five States Assembly polls this year although allies like SP and AAP have been pressing for an early completion of the task given to the 14-member Coordination Committee.
According to Congress strategists, the grand old party should give due importance to the views of the allies and keep discussing seat-sharing for the 2024 national polls, but conclude the exercise only after the Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Mizoram, which are slated for later this year.
The Congress strategists feel that a good performance in the state polls would not only boost the confidence of the grand old party, but it will also allow the party to strike a better bargain with the allies for the 2024 parliamentary elections. “I have told my leaders that it would be much better if seat-sharing for the next parliamentary elections is taken up after the Assembly polls. It will be good for the party in many ways,” AICC secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Sanjay Kapoor told ETV Bharat.
Though the state units have been talking about it, the issue was also discussed during the Congress Working Committee meeting in Hyderabad on September 16 where former Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken questioned the intent of AAP’s campaigns in states, which have a direct Congress vs BJP fight.
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According to sources, Maken stated that if AAP clarified its position on the issue, the Congress, too, would be able to re-adjust its stand in the national capital, which has seven Lok Sabha seats. Besides Delhi, the Congress unit in Punjab, too, is opposed to having any electoral pact with AAP, but has left the final decision on party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief Rahul Gandhi. Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats.
In Madhya Pradesh, which has 29 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress managers are facing a demand from the SP, which wants to contest seven Assembly seats in the Bundelkhand region at a time when there is a great rush of ticket seekers in the grand old party. AICC functionaries pointed out that the Congress was trying hard to put up a good show in the state polls and the decision of the Madhya Pradesh unit to postpone the proposed INDIA rally in Bhopal in the first week of October was due to the local factors.
“We are launching yatras across the state and will cover all the 230 Assembly seats in the state. It is going to be a massive voter connect programme ahead of the polls. We have to conclude the yatras by October 5 before the poll dates are announced by the Election Commission. In this backdrop, it was not practical to hold the INDIA rally in the first week of October. There will be no negative impact of the postponement,” AICC secretary in-charge of Madhya Pradesh Sanjay Kapoor said.
According to party insiders, though there were plans that like Bhopal, joint opposition rallies might also be taken out in Jaipur and Raipur, chances were remote now. “There is no such proposal of a joint opposition rally. We are all just focused on winning the forthcoming polls with a higher margin this time. The Lok Sabha seat sharing will be decided by the high command,” AICC secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Virendra Rathore told ETV Bharat.
