An important meeting of opposition parties was held in Bihar’s capital Patna on Friday. Leader of the opposition parties, including Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamta Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Sharad Pawar and Akhilesh Yadav, all veteran leaders participated in it. The main agenda of this meeting is to unite and defeat the BJP in the 2024 general elections. Before this meeting, there is a buzz that the opposition will challenge the BJP by fielding a common candidate on 450 seats. However, the biggest screw in this is how the seats will be distributed. Which party will contest the maximum number of seats. Will the Congress party compromise on fewer seats?
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee made a proposal after the victory of the Congress in the Karnataka Assembly. Keeping in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Mamta had clearly said that we will support the Congress in those states where its roots are strong. In return, the Congress should support regional parties in their strongholds. Apart from this, Mamta also put a condition of mutual alliance.
Mamta had even said that it should not happen that in some state we support Congress and in another state Congress fight against us. If the Congress wants to achieve something good, it will have to make sacrifices in some areas. Mamta has also given a proposal regarding other states and parties. Mamta wants to get unconditional support to weaken the BJP in West Bengal. Also she says that Akhilesh Yadav’s SP is strong in SP. That’s why we should support SP in UP.
The proposal of other regional parties including Mamta is from the seats on which the Congress had won in 2019 and on which it was second to the BJP. Today the Congress is strong in about 200 Lok Sabha seats across the country including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. Out of these 200 Lok Sabha seats, 91 are only in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. If the opposition Ekta Dal agrees to Mamta’s formula, then it is difficult for the Congress to get more than 230 seats. These are also the seats on which the Congress either won in 2019 or came second to the BJP. While there are 34 seats where the Congress came second in comparison to the regional parties.
Congress working on this strategy in the states
In a discussion with Amar Ujala, senior journalist Sanjeev Acharya says that the thing to think about now is how serious Mamta Banerjee is about this platform of opposition unity. Because sometimes she shows love for the Congress party and sometimes her attitude changes completely. If Mamata clears her stand, Congress will also not hesitate to extend its hand. However, the Congress is also in a dilemma that if it accepts Mamta’s formula, then the party will be wiped out in many states including West Bengal.
Senior journalist Acharya says that Mamta Banerjee keeps such conditions very carefully. She has always wanted to keep both sides of the road open for her party. Today, if the anti-BJP parties have to come on a single platform, then they will have to leave the conditions first. Today’s situation for the Congress is to save its existence. Because Congress also knows that no significant change is going to happen in 2024. That’s why the Congress party is working on a strategy to strengthen its position in the states and gain power. Because the Congress also knows that the regional parties have caused maximum damage to it in the states. What was earlier the vote bank of Congress has today shifted to regional parties. In such a situation, giving more seats in the Lok Sabha elections can prove to be harmful for the party.
If Mamta’s formula is accepted then Congress will be out of these states
Senior journalist Sanjeev Acharya says that there are 42 seats in West Bengal. The Congress and the Left parties fought the last election together. But the party had won only two seats. If Mamta’s formula is implemented then Congress will get only two seats. Similarly, there are 80 seats in UP. In the 2019 elections, victory was won only on Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli seat. The party was second in the remaining half a dozen seats. Accordingly, Congress will get only 7 seats in the 2024 elections.
Bihar has 40 Lok Sabha seats. At present there is a coalition government of JDU, Congress and RJD in the state. The party contested 9 seats in 2019 but won only one. Whereas on 4 seats it was second. If Mamta Banerjee’s formula is implemented here also, the party will get only 5 seats. In such a situation, Congress will be thrown out of major states. If Congress sacrifices more for regional parties, it will be completely finished.
Rahul said: Together we are defeating the BJP
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and President Mallikarjun Kharge, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray reached Patna on Friday morning. Rahul and Kharge reached the Congress headquarters directly from the airport. Here Rahul addressed the workers. He said that together we will defeat the BJP. There is a war of two ideologies going on in the country. On the one hand, Congress has the ideology of ‘Jodo Bharat’ and on the other, ‘Bharat Jodo’ of BJP-RSS.
