As the Congress central leadership began an exercise of consulting state units to gauge their mind on the contentious issue of seat sharing with INDIA constituents, the party came under pressure Friday from allies to show flexibility and a big heart.
The JD(U), in fact, projected Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the “sutradhar” of the Opposition alliance, underlining there are only a few leaders in Indian politics who are as “experienced” as him.
Electing Kumar the president of the party – he replaced Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh – and praising his role in bringing together Opposition parties, the JD(U) national executive said the bigger parties in the INDIA bloc have a “larger responsibility” and they should show a big heart to make the alliance successful.
The Shiv Sena (UBT), on the other hand, said it would contest 23 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra and said its talks with the Congress have to start from “zero” as it has “not won any seat” in the state.
The posturing by these parties came a day after West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee declared that it will be her party which will take on the BJP in the state. While the INDIA bloc will confront the BJP nationwide, the TMC will spearhead the battle in West Bengal, she told a workers’ meeting in North 24 Parganas Thursday.
The five-member national alliance committee of the Congress, comprising former Chief Ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel and senior leaders Mukul Wasnik, Salman Khurshid and Mohan Prakash, meanwhile, met leaders of several state units – among them Delhi, Bihar and Maharashtra – to seek their views on seat sharing.
A senior functionary of the Congress said the party was ready to be flexible. The state units, he said, may have their views but in a national alliance, national factors will take precedence over state factors. The Congress, sources said, is ready to walk the extra mile to accommodate the INDIA allies.