Delhi talks offer hopes of I.N.D.I.A bloc’s survival in troubled times

Amid signs of discord within INDIA bloc in a number of states, the ongoing amicable seat sharing talks in Delhi between the ruling AAP and the Congress seem to offer some hopes to the troubled opposition.

As per the senior leaders, talks on seat-sharing between the two parties are very likely to have a “positive” outcome for the city.
“Both parties in Punjab have maintained distance since the beginning, that they will not come together in the state. The state units are completely opposed to the idea. This, however, will not have a bearing on the talks in Delhi,” said an AAP leader.

AAP and Congress have met twice to discuss seat-sharing in the capital. However, no decision on seat-sharing has been made. Although Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has not been part of the two meetings so far, he met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and former President Rahul Gandhi in the national capital last week. However, the road is still not at all clear about who will contest four Lok Sabha seats out of seven.

A source within the AAP said that “at present negotiations are revolving around which party will fight on four Lok Sabha seats for the shake of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc.” On the other hand, a senior congress leader said, “We are ready to contest on four seats, even though we deserve to fight on five seats based on the performance of the 2019 election.” Not just in Delhi, but we are also willing to give the AAP one seat each in Haryana and Gujarat. The objective is to stop the BJP from taking advantage of a triangular contest in states,” said the Congress leader.

Meanwhile, the National Spokesperson of AAP, Priyanka Kakkad, chose to be silent on the issue. She told The Sunday Guardian that “it›s still early days to comment on the issue, as talks on seat-sharing are still going on. Talks are going on in a positive environment, so now I won›t comment on this.” However, the next meeting regarding the alliance is likely to take place next week.

The I.N.D.IA. alliance suffered a huge setback earlier this week when Trinamool Supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee announced that her party would go solo in Bengal and contest in all 42 Lok Sabha seats of the states alone.