Coalition committee nears report submission; final stage discussion with state Congress

Congress has started preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with great enthusiasm. Under the leadership of party general secretary Mukul Wasnik, the coalition committee has started discussions with leaders of those states where either a coalition is already in place or needs to be formed. In this regard, a meeting of the announcement committee has been called on January 4, in which all state presidents, legislators, and chief ministers will be present.

Meanwhile, for the last two days, the coalition committee’s meeting has been going on at the official residence in Lodhi Colony under the leadership of Mukul Wasnik. In the meeting, members of the committee, including former Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot, General Secretary Mohan Prakash, former CM of Chhattisgarh Mukul Wasnik, and Salman Khurshid, are present.

The committee has discussed seats with leaders of states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir. The committee is trying to determine how many seats should be contested in the coalition and how many seats should be given to ally parties. The biggest challenge for the party is in Delhi, Punjab, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. Punjab Congress and Delhi Congress are not in favor of an alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. Leaders of both states feel that there will be no benefit in forming an alliance with you because anti-incumbency is increasing against you. Secondly, you will keep more seats with you.

In Bihar’s politics, there is more concern about the situation. If the grand alliance continues, there is no possibility of Congress getting more than two or three seats. There is apprehension about this. Some twists and turns are expected in Bihar by January 15. For now, Congress is working on more seats from its side. There is also a clash over seats in Maharashtra. Shiv Sena, under Uddhav Thackeray, is claiming 20 to 22 seats. At the same seats, NCP is also hopeful, meaning 2 to 4 seats in the share of Congress. This has made Congress leaders unhappy. There is doubt about whether TMC will give seats in Bengal.

There are indications that they are showing prospects of contesting elections with left parties. In Uttar Pradesh, Congress is trying to bring BSP together. However, SP and RLD are against it. In Uttar Pradesh too, it does not seem that Congress will get seats according to its expectations. Meanwhile, the committee will discuss with the state in-charges, state presidents, and legislative party leaders and submit its report to Congress President in the next one or two days.

On January 4, P. Chidambaram will discuss the announcement committee’s meeting regarding Rahul Gandhi’s journey. The party’s effort is to quickly settle the Lok Sabha work and get involved in the elections as soon as possible.