Break in West Bengal and Punjab alliances: Congress, Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra face more tests

NEW DELHI: After INDIA bloc constituents Trinamool and AAP announced their decisions not to align with Congress in West Bengal and Punjab, respectively, the Congress leadership is bracing to face coalition uncertainties in more areas, including political hotpots UP and Bihar, where allies have kept it guessing. As a result, Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which has irked many allies for the solo show in the season of alliance talks, faces the twin challenges of traversing through BJP ravines and hostile turfs of estranged allies.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led SP in UP has made it clear that for any alliance Congress bargains should be based on its actual strength (one LS and two assembly seats) rather than fancy claims. Yadav's statement that he would not join Gandhi during the UP leg of his yatra, followed by announcement of a seven-seat deal with RLD, is seen by many Congress leaders as a signal that Congress should either settle for a single digit seat-share or contest alone. In Bihar, the Modi government conferring Bharat Ratna on Karpoori Thakur is an unpredictable googly on Nitish Kumar's EBC pitch, adding to the challenges of INDIA bloc already troubled by the tense JDU-RJD ties. There are indications that the Punjab and West Bengal developments may see Congress finding it hard to bargain with Maharashtra allies too.

Banerjee's announcement to go solo, a day ahead of Gandhi's yatra entering the state, didn't come as a shock to seasoned Congress leaders in New Delhi and Kolkata, who had seen the writing on the wall. However, what disappointed them was Rahul Gandhi's indication that he was clueless of what was to come by saying a day earlier that he shared an excellent relationship with Banerjee and that a seat-sharing deal with Trinamool would be ready soon.


"It shows the political innocence, if I may put it so, of my leader and his chosen political advisors of the season," said a CWC member, who had argued that Congress should deal with Banerjee only after dropping the CPI-M baggage. Ever since CPI-M co-opted Congress in its failed plot to divide Trinamool's Muslim base by propping up a Musim outfit in last assembly polls, Congress leaders had noticed that Banerjee had stopped her customary courtesy calls to 10 Janpath during her New Delhi trips.

An AICC functionary is learnt to have reached out to Banerjee to resume alliance talks. West Bengal Congress leaders, however, accused Banerjee of creating a rift in INDIA to help BJP. With AAP choosing to go solo in Punjab, the focus now is on whether some Congress LS MPs would cross over to AAP or BJP even as political circles watch its impact on Congress-AAP talks for Delhi.