INDIA bloc in dire straits

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party is coming up with neat alliances in state after state, the INDIA bloc appears to be in dire straits.

It was no less than a cruel joke that its main proponent, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar walked out of it and now heads the alliance in Bihar after conceding a major share of seats to the BJP.

No less surprising—and humiliating—should be the fact that Chirag Paswan led Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) is also part of the combine and has been allotted five seats.

It is quite well known that the LJP torpedoed the prospects of the Janata Dal-United by fielding its candidates in all the seats assigned to the JDU in the 2020 Assembly elections.

JDU was part of the NDA and LJP went to the hustings alone, not being acceptable to any of the alliances. Even in Odisha where the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had deserted the NDA camp in 2009, the BJP is being guided by the urges of realpolitik.

The two parties are working towards a reunion and prospects of such a combine sweeping the entire seats i.e., 20 from the state are looking certain.

The BJP has also stitched up an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh where elections will be held for 175-member Assembly as well as for 25 seats in the Lok Sabha.

The firmed-up arrangement has taken Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena party too under the umbrella.

The Indian National Congress which could not win a single seat during 2019 is solely dependent on split in YSR legacy votes with the recent advent of daughter of the former CM, YSR Sharmila into the party.

Party’s prospects are uncertain as there is no viable cadre and leaders in the state from which Telangana was severed in 2014. A vociferous advocate of opposition alliance, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, is going it alone in the Lok Sabha election.

The bloc came unstuck with TMC offering just two of the 42 seats from the state and Congress finding it too little for its stature.

While the Congress would be going with its old Left allies in West Bengal, it will be fighting against them in distant Kerala. But irony is unmistakable in that Rahul Gandhi will be facing Annie Raja of the Communist Party of India, an INDIA ally.

Things are far from smooth in Maharashtra too where partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) are engaged in a mutual slugfest.

They refuse to take advantage of deep fissures in the ruling combine which includes the BJP and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) and is headed by Shiv Sena (Shinde). The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has ruled out sharing the seats with Congress in Punjab.

However, an alliance between the two in Gujarat and Delhi provides some solace.

As of now, it is merely in Uttar Pradesh that two principal constituents of the INDIA Block, the Congress and the Samajwadi party seem to have achieved a friction-free seat adjustment and are putting synergy to work.

But even here, the former ally, the Rashtriya Lok Dal has been wooed away by the BJP and its impact on the Jat region remains uncertain.

With the end of the BJP-JJP coalition in Haryana and farmers upping the ante against the Centre, the NDA prospects are in the realm of doubt.