NEW DELHI: Inherent contradictions within opposition parties have started to surface on the issue of seat-sharing. These parties are scheduled to meet in Shimla for the second round of meeting in midJuly to cement their ties in the fight against the ruling BJP.
A senior BJP leader said though the opposition parties are thumping their chests over the success of the June 23 Patna meeting but in reality the outcome was quite the reverse. “Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is not Jay Prakash Narayan of 1974 who could bring different political ideologies and parties on a single platform,” he said. For regional parties, the Congress is the main stumbling block, he added.
Though the parties have decided to pitch a single Opposition candidate against the BJP in around 300 Lok Sabha seats, it remains to be seen if the Trinamool Congress of Mamata Banerjee will accommodate the Left and the Congress in West Bengal. Also there is question mark over whether the Aam Aadmi Party will ally with the Congress in Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat. The other challenge is to get the remaining Opposition parties to join the alliance. The ruling parties in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had kept away from the Patna meet, as did the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The Patna meet received a blow when the AAP contingent led by Arvind Kejriwal skipped the joint press conference. In the deliberations before the press conference, the AAP chief had asked for the Congress’ commitment to oppose the Centre’s ordinance in Parliament. The Congress refused to give any concrete response, resulting in the AAP to boycott the press meet.
According to political observers, seat-sharing formula in states like West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab and Haryana is likely to face trouble, especially if the AAP returns to the negotiating table. Kerala is another state where the Congress-led coalition is likely to take on the Left.
