New Delhi: The Congress is in talks with the Samajwadi Party (SP) for an alliance against BJP-Shiv Sena in the 2019 Maharashtra assembly polls to be held later this year, ThePrint has learnt.
However, while the Congress is ready to set a couple of seats aside for the SP, discussions are likely to hit a rough patch over the latter’s demand for more constituencies than the Congress is ready to yield.
The on-again-off-again allies contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly election together — where they were crushed by the BJP — but the SP chose to join hands with arch-rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for this year’s Lok Sabha polls, leaving the Congress out in the cold at the latter’s behest.
The SP also contested the last round of assembly elections — in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan last November-December — separately.
Once a stronghold of the Congress, Maharashtra has shown a tepid response to it since 2014 — the party was reduced from 82 seats (out of 170 seats contested as part of a seat-sharing agreement with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party) in 2009 to 42 (out of 287 contested) in a House of 288.
In the Lok Sabha polls, it had won two seats in 2014, and the tally came down further to one in 2019. In 2009, it had won 17 seats while ally NCP scooped up another eight.
The SP, meanwhile, is a marginal force in the state currently led by a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.
The Congress enters the election season in its birthplace amid several defections, with loyalist Kripashankar Singh the latest to quit the party Tuesday. Making matters worse is the fact that the local unit is also a divided house, with factionalism especially intense in the crucial Mumbai wing.
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Consolidating the anti-BJP vote
The idea of an alliance with the SP despite its negligible presence in the state essentially aims to consolidate the anti-BJP-Shiv Sena votes.
Former chief minister and senior Maharashtra Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said Tuesday the Congress and the NCP will contest about 123-125 seats each and leave 41 constituencies for smaller allies.
The decision to ally with the SP was discussed at the Maharashtra screening committee meeting, helmed by the panel’s chairman, Jyotiraditya Scindia, in New Delhi Tuesday.
According to sources who attended the meeting, the party has decided to give in to the SP’s demands for the Bhiwandi East and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar assembly constituencies in Maharashtra.
Mankhurd in Mumbai is currently represented by the lone SP legislator in the Maharashtra assembly, Abu Asim Azmi, while Bhiwandi East is with the Shiv Sena.
“We have been discussing a possible alliance, and while we believe that we can field better candidates, the party is likely to let the SP contest from Bhiwandi East and Mankhurd,” said a senior Congress leader.
“The SP has no base in Maharashtra, but we are still willing to ally to defeat the BJP-Shiv Sena,” the leader added.
The SP, however, is said to have also sought the Byculla assembly segment in Mumbai, besides four other seats in Maharashtra, a leader in the party told ThePrint.
With the state unit sceptical about giving up the seats, the Congress is yet to convey its decision on Bhiwandi East and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar to the SP.
Sources said Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, who is heading alliance talks, is unwilling to let go of Byculla and has instead offered the SP a constituency in Vidarbha.
Byculla was won by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in 2014, with the Congress emerging as the second runner-up by a margin of just over 3,000 votes.
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‘Congress not willing to have a conversation’
The SP, meanwhile, said there was nothing final yet. “The Congress has not been willing to have a conversation at all,” said Azmi, the party’s state unit president.
“If they agree to a friendly fight in Byculla, and give us the two seats, we are willing to ally with them.”
Azmi said the Congress was only offering the SP seats the former had no chance of winning.
“I have had an open conversation and made our demands clear,” Azmi said. “The Congress is not doing us a favour by allying with us. They will only end up dividing the vote if they don’t.”
The Congress and the SP had been in talks to ally in Uttar Pradesh as part of the Mahagathbandan ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. While the talks fell through, the SP and the Congress ended up in ‘friendly contests’ in a number of constituencies, fielding ‘weak candidates’ in seats where they felt the other would win.
The strategy, however, paid little dividend as both parties were routed. While the Congress won one of the 80 seats, the SP ended up with five.
There is, however, no talk of the two parties allying in Uttar Pradesh for the 12 by-elections due in the state.
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