Questioning the BJP’s “delay” in announcing seat-sharing arrangements in crucial States such as Bihar and Maharashtra, the Congress on Saturday asked the party if “it is being held hostage by the parties that it sought to gobble up”.
Hours after the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made a formal announcement about its seat-sharing arrangements in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Haryana, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal took to social media platform to take a swipe at the BJP.
“In the last week, the INDIA alliance has sealed important seat sharing in UP, MP, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana and Chandigarh. In the coming few days, all our other discussions will also reach a positive conclusion. Meanwhile - what is happening in the NDA (National Democratic Alliance)? Are all the ill-conceived, corrupt and opportunistic M&A deals giving BJP sleepless nights?” Mr. Venugopal asked in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Why no seat sharing yet in Bihar? What about Maharashtra, where they have taken a sledgehammer on democracy? Is the party which claims to win 400+ seats being held hostage by those parties it wanted to gobble up?” he added in the post.
Though he didn’t mention any party, the Congress leader seemed to be referring to the recent switch by Bihar Chief Minister and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) engineered by Ajit Pawar.
Alliance woes
Meanwhile, the Congress’s alliance with the AAP in Gujarat has upset the daughter of late Ahmed Patel, the former political secretary of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.
As part of an alliance on two seats in Gujarat, the Congress gave away the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat to the AAP.
The seat was represented by Patel between 1977 and 1989, and his daughter, Mumtaz Patel, was a contender for the seat. Senior leader Rahul Gandhi too was said to be against giving the Bharuch seat to its ally.
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“Deeply apologise to our district cadre for not being able to secure the Bharuch Lok Sabha seat in alliance. I share your disappointment,” Ms. Patel said in a post on X.
“Together, we will regroup to make @INCIndia stronger. We won’t let @ahmedpatel’s 45 years of Legacy go in vain,” she added with the hashtag #bharuchkibeti
On Friday, senior Congress Salman Khurshid too took to the microblogging platform to express his disappointment, when his Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, Farrukhabad, went to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the alliance.
In a cryptic post on X, Mr. Khurshid said, “How much test will my relations with Farrukhabad have to face? The question is not about me but about the future of all of us, about the future generations.”
“Never bowed before the decisions of fate. I can break, I can’t bend. You promise to support me, I will keep singing songs,” he added.
