29 December,2023 04:53 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Sanjay Raut (left) and Mamata Banerjee (right)
As the Lok Sabha Polls 2024 approach, the rifts among the Opposition's INDIA bloc seem to be cropping up and widening as the various alliance members' refusal to budge over seat-sharing and pursue independent agendas in their respective states, stated a report in ANI.
Earlier on Friday, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut reiterated the party's demand of contesting 23 seats for the Lok Sabha Polls 2024 including in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. He asserted Sena (UBT) is the biggest party in the western state of Maharashtra hinting at no compromise over seat-sharing talks for Lok Sabha Polls 2024.
"This is Maharashtra, and Shiv Sena is the biggest party here. Congress is a national party. Uddhav Thackeray is having positive discussions with the decision-making leaders of Congress including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and KC Venugopal. We have always said that Shiv Sena has always been fighting on 23 seats in the Lok Sabha elections including Dadra and Nagar Haveli and that will be firm," Raut told ANI.
Prior to Raut, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared her desire for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to run independently in Bengal, claiming that only the TMC could effectively confront the BJP in the state. Regardless, she emphasised the alliance's existence in other parts of the country.
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"INDIA alliance will be there across the country. In Bengal, the TMC will fight and defeat the BJP. Remember, in Bengal, only TMC can teach a lesson to the BJP and not any other party," she was quoted as saying in the ANI report.
The Congress, on the other hand, has taken an open-minded attitude to seat-sharing negotiations, according to Jairam Ramesh, the party's general secretary for communications. When addressing seat allocations, he emphasised the importance of taking into account diverse state-specific difficulties and realities.
"Khule mann aur band muh se hi hum seat sharing pe baat aage chalaenge (We will carry forward seat-sharing talks with an open mind and refraining from public statements). The seat-sharing talks are ongoing and will continue. We will do what needs to be done. There are different conditions and challenges in different states. We will be having discussions on seat sharing, keeping in mind the different (political) realities there," Ramesh told ANI.
The important debate on seat-sharing went unsolved during the latest INDIA alliance meeting, leaving growing ambiguity over the coalition's policy.
In the upcoming Lok Sabha Polls 2024, opposition groups under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) hope to unify against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
With ANI inputs
