In preparation for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, members of the Congress’s National Alliance Committee (NAC) have started negotiations with its Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) allies about seat sharing.
They allegedly had preliminary talks on Sunday in Bihar with leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (United).
The Congress and the Left parties may run for the remaining seats, as the JD(U) and RJD have already informed the established party that they intend to run for 16–17 seats apiece.
Why is this story important?
Many members of the opposition INDIA alliance are reportedly eager to complete the seat-sharing deals as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections draw near.
The INDIA bloc partners are seeing seat sharing as essential, particularly after a number of alliance officials emphasised the need to take the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on one-on-one.
Nonetheless, there are several states where the allies of India may have difficulties since they are currently rivals.
Positive first round of negotiations between Congress and its partners in Bihar
First round of discussions between the Congress and its INDIA bloc partners in Bihar was described as “positive” by reports quoting insiders. Mukul Wasnik, the senior leader of the five-member National Alliance Committee, led the meetings.
In addition, the Congress was hopeful that the discussions with JD(U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha and RJD leader Manoj Jha would result in a solution that would be acceptable to all like-minded parties in Bihar.
Too few Congress seats in Bihar: AICC sources
Prior to this, the Congress may run for five seats, while the JD(U) and RJD, who currently rule Bihar, stated they would like 17 seats apiece.
A top leader of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) reportedly stated, “Five Lok Sabha seats for the Congress party in Bihar are too little to be content for the party workers,” as reported by Hindustan Times.
But this time, the circumstances and the difficulties are different. The leader went on, “But the Congress…won’t be willing to let the party workers down.”
Congress’s efforts to form coalitions in important states
The Congress does not have relations to some of the major parties in several other states, although it does have pre-election alliances with parties like the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) in Jharkhand and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu.
This would put the INDIA members in a difficult position when it comes to the Lok Sabha elections.
The most controversial ones are Kerala, West Bengal, Delhi, and Punjab, where it is purported that Congress insiders have admitted how tough it is to work out seat-sharing agreements with friends of the INDIA bloc.