The Congress Party is on a high post the completion of the Vote Adhikar Yatra in Bihar. While this has worked wonders for the party’s morale, there seems to be some disconnect with its state allies, for the RJD clearly sees the success of the yatra as a bargaining tactic to negotiate for more seats. In the 2020 Assembly polls, the Congress had contested 70 of the 243 seats, but could win only 19 seats. Prior to that, in the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, Congress had contested 41 seats and won 27. But that was when the JD(U) was also a part of the Mahagathbandhan.
The Congress could not repeat this show in the 2015 polls, even though its alliance partner, the RJD, emerged as the single largest party winning 75 of the 144 seats it had contested. However, it could not form government. This is because the Congress could not deliver, and this is a sentiment that really rankled amongst the RJD. This time round, the RJD is sensing a chance at winning the CM’s chair once again and does not want to be bogged down by the Congress. There is a feeling within the RJD not to waste too many seats on the Congress.
But post the yatra, the Congress is confident that it can deliver as many as 27 seats once again and is demanding at least 70, if not more. The slow rate of conversion by the Congress despite strong crowds during its rallies is something that is not just troubling Tejashwi Yadav but also another I.N.D.I.A ally, Akhilesh Yadav, for Uttar Pradesh will be going to the polls in 2027. The SP was also not happy with the large chunk of seats (105) that the Congress took during the 2017 polls, for it could win only 7. It is another matter that the SP itself didn’t fare too well, winning only 47 of the 311 it contested. Later, in 2022, the SP and Congress did not have an alliance. The Congress went alone in UP, contesting 399 but winning only two, while the SP went in for an alliance with the RLD and other parties, contesting 347 seats and winning 111.
For now, Akhilesh and Tejashwi—as well as the Congress—are claiming that the alliance is holding strong. But the real test will be the seat sharing.
Recently, Shivpal Yadav, the SP leader and the late Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother, gave a rather candid interview to a Lucknow-based well-known TV anchor. The conversation lasted almost an hour and was quite interesting, especially for someone who wanted the backstory on how the Samajwadi Party was created, Mulayam Singh’s rise, fall and rise again, the role of Amar Singh and of course the equation between the two brothers.
Shivpal also spoke about his relationship with his nephew and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav. In fact, one of the reasons why the big fight took place in the SP was because Uncle Shivpal thought it was his turn to be party chief after Mulayam, and not Akhilesh’s. But that is all a matter of public record now.
However, what did not go down too well was Shivpal’s recollection of how first his son Aditya Yadav was given the Azamgarh seat to contest from (during the last Lok Sabha), but later on was told to exchange this with Dharmendra Yadav and contest from Budaun instead. Apparently, the latter was not confident of winning Budaun and wanted to contest from Azamgarh instead. Turns out that the SP won both seats, but clearly this factoid is not something the party would want out in the public.
Recently, there was a very interesting Twitter exchange between Shashi Tharoor and Suhel Seth, when the latter posted a picture standing outside Oxford University and tweeted to Tharoor saying that he was standing in front of the building “where Oxford Dictionary your sole-mate was created.” Tharoor was quick to reply: “If the Oxford English Dictionary is my ‘sole mate,’ then I suppose I walk in well-defined shoes. Better that than barefoot in banality! So I’m guilty as charged. And if you meant the OED is my ‘sole’ mate, I must say being wedded to the dictionary beats being shackled to cliches...”
The back-and-forth went on for a while and kept the Twitter world (or X, as it’s now supposed to be called) quite entertained, especially since both Tharoor and Suhel have such a huge social media presence. We need more of this kind of good-natured banter instead of the toxic conversation that usually does the rounds.
