New Delhi: The seat-sharing tangle in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and West Bengal has considerably strained relations between the Congress and the Left parties, which are now accusing the principal opposition party of undermining the INDIA bloc by “failing” to show a spirit of accommodation.
Speaking to ThePrint, the general secretaries of two major Left parties—the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) D. Raja and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation’s Dipankar Bhattacharya—said the full potential of the opposition bloc cannot be harnessed unless the Congress changes its approach.
While Jharkhand and Maharashtra are headed for assembly elections next month, in West Bengal, bypolls will be held in six assembly seats.
In West Bengal, the Left parties and the Congress have already announced separate lists of candidates, bringing down the curtain on their seat-sharing arrangement, which had been in place even in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In Jharkhand, the CPI has been left out in the cold with the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and the Congress refusing to share any seats with it, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) has fielded candidates in nine seats on its own.
The CPI(ML) is the only Left party contesting under the INDIA bloc’s umbrella, but remains upset with the number of seats being offered to it.
“In the larger interest, we are remaining a part of the INDIA bloc, but it’s unfortunate the way the JMM and Congress have handled the seat-sharing. Even the RJD (INDIA ally Rashtriya Janata Dal) is not happy. They are offering us four seats. But in one such seat, Dhanwar, the JMM has fielded a candidate saying it will be a friendly fight. They may have their compulsions, but we have ours too. We may field candidates in five seats,” Bhattacharya told ThePrint.
Dhanwar has a strong CPI(ML) base. The party won the seat in the 2014 assembly polls and finished a close third behind the BJP in 2019.
Bhattacharya said the INDIA bloc could have benefited by allowing the CPI(ML) to contest from at least eight seats in the Chota Nagpur division, consisting of Hazaribagh, Palamu, Ranchi, Manbhum and Singhbhum plateaus.
Raja said that Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had told him “in a general way” that he would instruct the state leaderships of the party to take the CPI along.
“But in Jharkhand, like in Haryana, the talks have failed. The Congress should not forget that just one party does not make up the INDIA bloc. The word alliance is in the name itself. The parties are together because they share certain principles,” Raja said.
Bhattacharya told ThePrint that the Congress must realise that alliances are not just about seat-sharing, but mounting joint campaigns as well. He argued that the Congress suffered in Haryana due to its inability to craft a campaign that reflected not just its voice, but that of allies too.
The BJP this month won a third straight term in Haryana despite predictions of a Congress victory.
“Also, remember Jharkhand is not all Adivasi. It has a large working-class base, especially in the areas I mentioned, among whom the Left is popular. Even in Bihar, people realised our strength only after the elections. If our potential is not fully utilised, then the INDIA bloc will remain an under-realised concept,” Bhattacharya said.
Dr Sirivella Prasad, All India Congress Committee Secretary (Jharkhand), said the issues flagged by the Left would be addressed and “things will settle down smoothly”.
“The idea is to ensure the return of the coalition to power. All issues will be settled,” Prasad told ThePrint.
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‘INDIA bloc could have formed govt’
Raja and Bhattacharya, along with CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who passed away last month, have been a fixture at all joint meetings of the INDIA bloc, starting from June 2023 in Patna. Yechury, due to his close ties with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, was seen as the glue holding together the Congress and the Left.
Raja, however, said that the impression that the Left parties were given credence in the INDIA bloc till the Lok Sabha elections was not borne out by facts.
“Only in Tamil Nadu and to some extent in Bihar, there was coordination. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin displayed political understanding and maturity and the result was 100 percent. Had there been cooperation elsewhere, who knows, the INDIA bloc could have formed the government as well,” Raja told ThePrint.
In Maharashtra, the CPI remains hopeful of getting one seat in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance from the quota of the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).
In Jharkhand, even during the Lok Sabha polls, the Left parties, barring the CPI(ML), had fought separately.
A senior CPI(M) leader told ThePrint that the party did not seek seats from the JMM-Congress in Jharkhand but was likely to contest in two constituencies in Maharashtra under the MVA umbrella.
In Haryana, the CPI(M) was given one seat to contest from. CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali had told ANI earlier this week that the “Congress has a habit of demanding more seats than its capabilities”.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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