Congress sacrificed the interests of its party in Delhi, Punjab and Bengal for opposition unity

Fulfilling his promise made in the meeting of opposition parties in Patna, even before the second meeting of opposition parties to be held in Bengaluru, former National President of Congress Rahul Gandhi called for the unity of the opposition parties in Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal. But now the big question is arising whether Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal will take care of the interests of Congress i.e. Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and Punjab or not? The question is also arising as to whether Mamata Banerjee, who has been continuously advising the Congress to retreat in West Bengal, will now take care of the interests of the Congress in her state? The question is also arising whether Mamta Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal will take care of the interests of Congress and Rahul Gandhi in the matter of leading the alliance formed after the unity of opposition parties? Will you respect their sacrifice?

In fact, this issue of sacrifice of the Congress in Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal arose because the leaders of the Congress’s Delhi region did not want the Congress to be seen standing with the Aam Aadmi Party. Even if that issue is related to the ordinance related to the rights of the Delhi government. Even after being voted out of power in the last elections in Punjab, the local Congress leaders were claiming to fight vigorously against the Aam Aadmi Party’s Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab, and so did the Punjab Congress unit. That whatever may be the issue, Congress should not support Aam Aadmi Party, should not support Arvind Kejriwal and should not support it at all. But in the name of opposition unity, ignoring the demand of its leaders and the feeling of opposition towards the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress high command in Delhi and Punjab went against the interests of the Congress and took the rights of the Delhi government, brought by the Narendra Modi government at the center. Announced to oppose the ordinance means to support Arvind Kejriwal.

At the same time, in West Bengal too, senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary has continuously opened a front against Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary has also been continuously saying that there is no question of compromising with Mamta Banerjee. But since the issue is of opposition unity, the Congress rejected the talk of its own senior leaders and especially the leader whom the Congress has appointed as the leader of its parliamentary party in the Lok Sabha. The Congress high command has decided to stand by Mamata Banerjee despite Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary’s tough stand and this is probably the reason why the issue of Congress workers killed during the recent panchayat elections in West Bengal was not raised by Rahul Gandhi On leaving, the BJP is continuously besieging the Congress high command.

By taking this decision, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have now put the ball in the court of Arvind Kejriwal and Mamta Banerjee. Congress had contested on 421 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats in the last Lok Sabha elections of 2019. The Congress high command is determined to contest around 400 seats this time too, but in the name of opposition unity, if it has to sacrifice some seats, the Congress is ready to do so. However, despite this, the party would not want it to contest elections on less than 370 seats under any circumstances. In such a situation, it is obvious that now the Congress will expect that Arvind Kejriwal will give substantial Lok Sabha seats to the Congress in Delhi and Punjab and the party will keep the same hope from Mamta Banerjee in West Bengal.

If the opposition parties decide to fight the elections unitedly against the BJP on the basis of seat sharing, the Congress would want Kejriwal to take over the state but give him more seats in the Lok Sabha. The Congress would like that out of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, at least four seats should come in the account of the party. In Punjab also, out of total 13 Lok Sabha seats, Congress will not be ready to fight for less than 7-9 seats. Even though the number of Congress Lok Sabha MPs in West Bengal is only 2 at present, but if Mamta Banerjee decides to contest the elections together, then the party would definitely like to contest 7-10 seats out of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

If the Congress succeeds in solving the knot of alliance in Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal, then on this basis, the party will try to get more seats than Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh and Nitish Kumar-Lalu Yadav in Bihar. However, considering the attitude of the regional satraps, it is going to be a very challenging task for the trinity of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.

Santosh Pathak

(The author is a senior journalist and columnist.)