NEW DELHI: Has INDIA block become a burden on opposition parties? The anti-BJP alliance that was launched with much fanfare and anticipation in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections appears to be out of breath. Every assembly election since the formation of the INDIA bloc has brought to the fore internal contradictions within the alliance, with several national-level allies being rivals in the states.
The Congress, which currently leads the alliance, has faced increasing resistance from some of the regional parties, especially after its dismal electoral performance in Haryana and Maharashtra.
The latest round of intra-coalition fighting in Delhi has taken an ugly turn with the Congress and the Arvind Kejriwal government. AAP engaging in an open war of words, accusing and pointing fingers at each other, much to the discomfort of other alliance partners.
On Thursday, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expressed dismay over the lack of clarity over the leadership and agenda of the INDIA bloc and said the alliance should be dissolved if it was meant only for parliamentary elections.
“After the assembly elections in Delhi, they should call all the members of the alliance for a meeting. If this alliance was only for the parliamentary elections, it should be dissolved and we will work separately. But if it is meant for the assembly elections assembly as well, we will have to sit together and work collectively,” Abdullah said.
His comments come amid claims by the Congress and RJD, another key alliance partner in Bihar, that the INDIA bloc was formed only for coordination during the Lok Sabha elections.
Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday reiterated that the INDIA bloc was formed exclusively for the Lok Sabha elections and claimed that the party is gaining significant momentum ahead of the Delhi assembly elections.
“INDIA bloc was formed for the nationwide Lok Sabha elections. Depending on the situation in different states, whether Congress or regional parties, they independently decide whether to fight together or separately,” Khera said.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had recently told reporters that there was nothing unusual about the Congress and AAP fighting separately in Delhi, where they had met “only for the Lok Sabha elections”.
His comments assume significance as assembly elections are due in Bihar later this year and the RJD and Congress are allied in the state. The relationship between the two parties was strained recently when RJD supremo Lalu Prasad backed Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee’s claim to lead the INDIA bloc and downplayed any objections the Congress might have to it.
The two parties have already started taking stances on seat sharing with some Congress leaders citing the party’s strike rate in Lok Sabha elections to seek parity in seat sharing in assembly elections. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD contested 26 seats and won 4, while the Congress fought on 9 seats and won 3.
In West Bengal, the Congress and Trinamool Congress could never work together as Mamata Banerjee refused to accept the grand party’s seat-sharing demands.
In Kerala, Congress and Left parties, as rivals, engage in bitter politics even as they remain together at the national level and even in West Bengal.
However, it is not just the regional parties that have snubbed the Congress. In Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, where the Congress was the dominant political player, the party refused to heed the demands of the INDIA block allies, leading to a bitter parting of ways in the assembly elections.
The Congress, which has ceded its political space to regional parties in several states since 2014, is now desperately trying to regain lost ground. That explains the acrimony that arises within the INDIA bloc before every assembly election. Clearly, the stakeholders need to decide whether they want to dissolve the INDIA bloc till the next Lok Sabha elections.