With the current jolt by the JD(U) which till a day earlier was the harbinger of larger Opposition coalition INDIA Bloc landed in a trouble on Sunday with its chief architect Nitish Kumar shook hands with the NDA after his aspirations to take on BJP’s tallest leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not materialise even after nine months of his engagement with the Congress led stakeholders of Opposition Bloc.
Days after the Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee poured cold waters on the grouping by announcing to go solo in Lok Sabha polls and there shall be no truck with the Congress, the JD(U) too said the alliance was collapsing due to the grand old party’s indifferent attitude to regional allies.
The Aam Aadmi Party too last week announced to contest alone in Punjab.
Which means after West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab gone only hope remains in Jharkhand even as the tantrums of both the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party and the Congress is visible in Uttar Pradesh which accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats.
Akhilesh, however, has announced to share 11 seats with the Congress, against the latter’s demand of 20. As Nitish tendered his resignation on Sunday morning, he explained that things in the INDIA Bloc have not been working out.
While playing the lead role in the coalition, the Congress said it was aware of what was brewing in Bihar but did not comment on it before in the interest of the INDIA Bloc.
Countering JD(U)’s allegation that the Congress insulted Nitish time and again, the grand old party said if Nitish wanted to stay, he would have; but he wanted to join the NDA. The Congress said party chief Mallikarjun Kharge tried to reach out to Nitish but was unsuccessful.
Kharge said Nitish’s switch was pre-planned and Nitish kept the Congress, and the RJD leadership in the dark.
The party, which is now left in the lurch with sole coffers in Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar led-NCP besides the DMK, alleged that the BJP is doing its best to cause a “mini implosion” in the coalition.
“Personally, yes the optics could have been better. There is no implosion. But the BJP is working overtime to ensure there is a minimum implosion if not a maximum implosion,” Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh said when asked about the developments.
In the crucial State of Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, the Samajwadi Party announced that it has offered 11 seats to the Congress, with former Chief Minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav asserting that their alliance is “off to a good start”.
Ramesh said senior leader Ashok Gehlot is holding talks with the SP chief over seat-sharing and it is taking place in a positive and constructive environment.
Speaking in Karnataka, Kharge said his party expects that those who have the desire to protect the country’s Constitution and democracy, will definitely not take any hasty steps.