Congress at war with allies ahead of Assembly Elections season

New Delhi: Assembly elections are exposing strains in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc with the Congress flexing muscles especially in states where it is playing second fiddle in its bid to expand its influence.

After Delhi and Bihar, Congress attempted to squeeze the alliance leader in Tamil Nadu – DMK – ahead of seat-sharing while its top leadership has also been going after the CPI(M) in Kerala accusing it of being a “B-Team of BJP” just as it targeted AAP and Arvind Kejriwal during Delhi elections.

Contesting against each other in states was witnessed during Lok Sabha polls too but attacks by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on CPI(M), a national ally, and the Left have queered the pitch nationally.

Sources said both Kharge and Rahul had no options but to go for the jugular due to the pressure from the ground with Congress hoping to snatch power from the Left in Kerala. They targeted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, asking why he was not arrested to suggest a “deal” between CPI(M) and BJP.

The Left also did not hold back even as CPI(M) and CPI Parliamentary leaders raised the issue at a floor leaders’ meeting last month, saying such remarks by a leader of stature "invariably weaken the coherence" of the Opposition bloc.

The Congress attack on the CPI(M), calling it Communist Janata Party, comes at a time when both sides stand together on national issues inside and outside Parliament while some other allies take independent stands. Rahul and Kharge had also attacked Kejriwal, calling him a “B-Team of BJP”.

After Kejriwal got relief in the liquor scam case, Congress said the BJP was using parties like AAP and Trinamool Congress to achieve its objective of “Congress-mukt Bharat”.

The run up to the Assembly elections saw doubts being sown about the viability of the DMK-led alliance with a section in the Congress arguing for going with the untested TVK led by actor Vijay, after raising demands for power sharing and increased imprint in seat allocation.

The DMK stood its ground and Congress had to settle for 28 seats and a Rajya Sabha seat, up from 25 seats last time, but did not get all the constituencies of its choice. Congress leaders in favour of snapping ties with DMK were of the view that organisationally, the party was suffering under DMK alliance.

However, the Congress central leadership, particularly Kharge, chose not to disturb the existing arrangements even as Rahul’s birthday wishes to DMK chief MK Stalin were interpreted as not-so-warm, implying that he was also in favour of fighting for a better deal.

In Bihar too where elections were held last year, there was chatter about the Congress leaving the alliance. During Haryana elections in late 2024, Samajwadi Party’s attempts to get a seat to fight hit the Congress wall.

The question now being speculated is about how Congress and Samajwadi Party would enter a deal for the Uttar Pradesh elections early next year. Its Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande has already said the party is making preparations in all 403 seats and had said that I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s doors are open for BSP.