Cong. Internal Discussions to Lay Way Forward For Seat-Sharing Talks With INDIA Alliance: Kharge

New Delhi: With the INDIA alliance yet to finalise seat-sharing arrangements between its partners, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said that the Congress’s own team will first hold internal discussions and then proceed to weigh demands with alliance members.

In response to a question by The Wire on the sidelines of a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday (January 6), Kharge said that preliminary talks were being held with Congress members.

On December 19, the Congress announced its national alliance committee, which includes Mukul Wasnik as the convenor, and former chief ministers Ashok Gehlot and Bhupesh Baghel and veteran leaders Salman Khurshid and Mohan Prakash as members.

“Our team will first hold preliminary talks with our Congress members, including Pradesh Congress Committee presidents, CLP [Congress Legislature Party] leaders and senior leaders in every state,” Kharge said.

“After that, the conclusions and perceptions that will emerge – those will be discussed with our INDIA alliance partners to figure out what [seats] they want and what we want.”

At the last INDIA alliance meeting, which was held in New Delhi on December 19, almost all leaders had emphasised the need to have a seat-sharing formula as soon as possible to mount a “collective fight” against the BJP.

After the three-hour long meeting that focused on seat sharing, K.C. Venugopal, the Congress’s general secretary (organisation), said all leaders agreed that seat-sharing needed to be finalised “as early as possible”.

However, over two weeks since that meeting, no final call has yet been taken on seat-sharing arrangements in any state.

Kharge said that he has already had a meeting with the Congress’s national alliance committee at his residence and that the five-member team is also holding its own meetings every alternate day to finalise the way forward for seat-sharing negotiations.

Reports said that at the December 19 INDIA alliance meeting, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee proposed the idea of Kharge – also a Dalit face – to be announced as the alliance’s prime ministerial candidate.

The proposal was also seconded by the usually reticent Arvind Kejriwal.

Since then, reports have also emerged that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar may be made convenor of the alliance.

However, Kharge said that a final decision on posts will be announced in the next 10-15 days.

“This is not Kaun Banega Crorepati. When our meeting will happen, it will be decided who will take what post in the next 10-15 days. We are working unitedly,” he said to reporters.

Kharge said that the party is working on contesting in all 500 constituencies in the country.

“We are working on all 500 constituencies. We have finalised parliament observers. That list will be announced shortly and they will assess each constituency. Once negotiations with INDIA alliance members are finalised, the exact number of seats will also come out, but we are putting our efforts everywhere.

“It may so happen that today we are thinking that we are getting ‘A’ seat; suppose our alliance partner doesn't agree and says take ‘C’ seat. Therefore, we are working on all constituencies,” he said.

The INDIA alliance has so far held four meetings – it first met in Patna in June, while its second and third meetings were held in Bengaluru and Mumbai respectively. It last met in Delhi last month.

The Congress has also invited all INDIA alliance members to participate in Rahul Gandhi’s upcoming Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

The east-west leg of the yatra will kick off from Imphal, Manipur on January 14 and end in Mumbai in March.

It is the second instalment of the Bharat Jodo Yatra that covered Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 2021-22.

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