NEW DELHI: RLD‘s decision to ditch the opposition alliance in favour of NDA, the second party to do so after JD(U), has reinforced doubts about viability of INDIA bloc, which was conceived to be the challenger to PM Modi-led BJP.
Jayant Chaudhary’s exit, coming on the heels of BJP announcing Bharat Ratna for Chaudhary Charan Singh, has not only brought seat-sharing dialogue between Samajwadi Party, RLD and Congress in UP to a grinding halt, but has also dealt a prestige blow to the national-level pre-poll alliance of anti-BJP parties in light of their assertion that state-level alliances were “on course” and “stable”.
Though Congress maintained that RLD’s departure would not impact the bloc, and a section sought to see a silver lining in the move – a larger pie in seat-sharing talks with SP – its last-minute decision to alter the route of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to skip western UP districts belied its misgivings over the implications of the latest split for Congress’ flagship march.
For the group of opposition parties that was banking on building state-level alliances to upset BJP, RLD’s move compounded the alliance’s troubles across states. In Bengal, for instance, Congress’s chief lobbying with Mamata Banerjee to join the yatra “for five minutes” not only fell on deaf ears but saw Banerjee deciding to contest all 42 seats in the state.
The chinks in INDIA wall widened with Nitish Kumar’s exit from the Mahagathbandhan, and AAP’s decision against an alliance in Punjab. Big ticket exits – the latest being Ashok Chavan’s departure from Congress – have added to the woes with the unravelling doing little for optics involved and even lesser for the alliance’s attempt to present a cohesive picture just months short of LS polls.
Jayant Chaudhary’s exit, coming on the heels of BJP announcing Bharat Ratna for Chaudhary Charan Singh, has not only brought seat-sharing dialogue between Samajwadi Party, RLD and Congress in UP to a grinding halt, but has also dealt a prestige blow to the national-level pre-poll alliance of anti-BJP parties in light of their assertion that state-level alliances were “on course” and “stable”.
Though Congress maintained that RLD’s departure would not impact the bloc, and a section sought to see a silver lining in the move – a larger pie in seat-sharing talks with SP – its last-minute decision to alter the route of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra to skip western UP districts belied its misgivings over the implications of the latest split for Congress’ flagship march.
For the group of opposition parties that was banking on building state-level alliances to upset BJP, RLD’s move compounded the alliance’s troubles across states. In Bengal, for instance, Congress’s chief lobbying with Mamata Banerjee to join the yatra “for five minutes” not only fell on deaf ears but saw Banerjee deciding to contest all 42 seats in the state.
The chinks in INDIA wall widened with Nitish Kumar’s exit from the Mahagathbandhan, and AAP’s decision against an alliance in Punjab. Big ticket exits – the latest being Ashok Chavan’s departure from Congress – have added to the woes with the unravelling doing little for optics involved and even lesser for the alliance’s attempt to present a cohesive picture just months short of LS polls.