New Delhi: Even as the counting of votes in four states was underway, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge dialled leaders of the INDIA alliance to convene a meeting on 6 December. It has been suggested that the meeting be held at Kharge’s residence in New Delhi at 6 pm.
According to initial trends, the Congress seems to be losing Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan while it’s a neck-to-neck fight in Chhattisgarh. The only silver lining for the Congress comes from Telangana, where, according to Election Commission data, at 10.45 am, the party was leading decisively against the Bharatiya Rashtra Samiti (BRS).
The last meeting of the INDIA alliance was in September. According to Congress insiders, the party was waiting for the results of the four assembly elections before starting talks of seat-sharing with the other alliance partners.
In the four state polls of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, the Congress encountered problems with its alliance partners like Samajwadi Party (SP). The party is also locked in a tussle over seat-sharing with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and Punjab. Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal is also unwilling to share any seats with the Congress. The idea of the INDIA alliance is to have one Opposition candidate pitted against BJP’s, across the country.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)