INDIA bloc hits rough weather? All is not well between SP & Cong

Lucknow: Is INDIA bloc set to hit rough weather? The discontent brewing among the constituents of the opposition alliance suggests so. While the Samajwadi Party is unhappy over Congress’ conduct in Parliament, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee too is dissatisfied and has even offered to lead the alliance if needed.

Though INDIA bloc continues to put up a united face despite the discontent, cracks surfaced in one of its subsidiary — the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra on Saturday when SP’s Maharshtra president Abu Azmi announced that his party has decided to sit out of the alliance after Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackrey’s aide Milind Narvekar allegedly hailed the demolition of Babri mosque and a related advertisement.

The MVA, which won 30 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, could win only 49 of the 288 seats in the state assembly polls — Shiv Sena (UBT) winning 20 seats, Congress 16, NCP (SP) 10, SP 2 and CPM one seat.

In Uttar Pradesh, many SP MPs are said to have voiced their displeasure before party chief Akhilesh Yadav over Congress silence on the issue of anomalies in bypolls raised by SP. “When Akhilesh Yadav sought time from the Speaker and raised the issue of party MPs and MLAs being stopped from visiting Sambhal, the Congress went ahead to stage a protest against Adani outside Parliament. As Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi should have taken up the issue with the Speaker,” said an SP MP.

“Though Congress maintained a studied silence when SP raised the issue of Sambhal violence in Parliament, a day later Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra headed for Sambhal. What is one supposed to read here?,” asked the MP.

The SP leadership is also irked over Congress silence over dislodging of SP’s Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad from the front row in the Lok Sabha. “As the face of the principal opposition party, the LoP should have objected to Prasad being allotted a chair in the second row. Or is it that the Congress wants to spare a seat for Priyanka Gandhi in the front row in the days to come?,” said another SP MP.

SP functionaries are of the view that the Congress leadership was keen to lead the INDIA bloc as the ‘big brother’ (and rightfully so by being the single largest party in Parliament), but does not want to take the responsibility of walking the extra step to keep the flock together.

A similar sentiment was aired by TMC’s Mamata Banerjee in an interview to News18 Bangla. She said it was the responsibility of those leading the INDIA bloc to make sure that everyone was being taken along. Asked if she would take charge of the bloc, Mamata said: “If given the opportunity, I would ensure its smooth functioning.”

“Samajwadi Party has always nurtured an emotional bond with Mamata Banerjee. Our party will support and cooperate with whatever she plans to do in politics because our ideologies are well aligned with each other,” said SP spokesman Udaiveer Singh.

He said INDIA bloc constituents should discuss West Bengal chief minister’s suggestion. “If Mamata Banerjee has expressed any desire, the leaders of the INDIA alliance bloc should take it into consideration and extend support to anything that strengthens the alliance. Mamata Banerjee took the lead in stopping the BJP (in West Bengal) like SP did in UP. The primary goal of the INDIA bloc is to stop BJP’s win,” he said.

Courtesy : TOI

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