With INDIA bloc parties pitted against each other, opposition unity comes a cropper in Assembly polls

The sentiment of opposition unity that the INDIA alliance parties have sought to project has taken a beating in the coming round of Assembly elections, with the anti-BJP bloc partners pitted against each other in the state polls.

In Madhya Pradesh, there was an acrimonious war of words between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, with seat sharing talks between them failing to yield an outcome. The SP has fielded 43 candidates in the state. The Aam Aadmi Party has 70 candidates in the fray, the most amongst INDIA alliance constituents apart from the Congress. The Janata Dal (United) has ten candidates contesting in the state. This has given rise to some concern in the Congress, which had lost eight seats in the 2018 elections by narrow margins.

In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, the AAP has been attacking the incumbent Congress government and projecting itself as an alternative. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has held rallies in the state where he has taken potshots at the Bhupesh Baghel regime. The AAP has declared a total of 57 candidates for the Chhattisgarh elections. 

In Rajasthan, the AAP has so far announced 44 candidates.

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The seat sharing talks between the Congress and the Left parties have also come a cropper, with the CPI(M) and the CPI now deciding to declare their candidates for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In Rajasthan, the CPI(M) is expected to field 17 candidates, and the CPI 12. The CPI(M) is likely to have four candidates in Madhya Pradesh and three in Chhattisgarh. The CPI is expected to have 16 candidates in the fray in Chhattisgarh and nine in Madhya Pradesh. 

According to sources in the Congress, a seat sharing arrangement could still be possible with the Left parties in Telangana.

The INDIA alliance constituents had decided at their coordination committee meeting held in Delhi in the run-up to the Assembly elections that an effort will be made by the parties to have a seat sharing arrangement not just for the Lok Sabha polls but also in the states.

However, the Congress has huge stakes in the state elections, especially in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and is not particularly keen on any move that reduces its number of seats. 

Theses states provide what is largely a direct contest between the Congress and the BJP, and the assessment in the Congress is that it needs to maximise its success in these elections since its performance in these polls will determine its heft in the opposition grouping ahead of the Lok Sabha contest.