Talks on seat-sharing between the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the election-bound states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh have failed. The CPI(M) has declared that it will contest 17 seats in Rajasthan, 4 in Madhya Pradesh, and 3 in Chhattisgarh, with the Congress refusing to grant it any significant space.
Following the party’s central committee meeting, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “The central committee discussed the assembly elections in the forthcoming months. In Rajasthan, we decided to contest 17 seats, in Madhya Pradesh 4, and in Chhattisgarh 3. The seats in Telangana are still being discussed as there is still time for the Telangana elections…These are the seats that we are contesting independently on our symbol in these three states. And, the talks are on in Telangana.”
Yechury conceded that in the other three states, seat-sharing conversations with the Congress had been unsuccessful.
“We had talks with the Congress as far as Rajasthan is concerned. We also made progress in these. However, now we think there is no question of talks progressing further and that is why we have announced our 17 seats. These are the ones that we will definitely contest. The last time we contested 28 seats, when the Congress formed the government. And, in most of the seats, at least 25, the Congress gained because we fought on those seats,” Yechury said.
Seat-sharing in election-bound states was a key agenda in the meeting of the INDIA bloc that took place recently at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar’s residence in Delhi. However, no headway has been made, with many parties in the INDIA bloc, like the CPI(M), Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party, and Aam Aadmi Party, contesting elections on their own without any understanding with the Congress. Among the smaller parties in the bloc, there is a sense of an opportunity being missed.
“The opinion of the majority in the INDIA bloc is that this bloc was formed with the 2024 parliamentary elections in mind. That was the declared objective,” Yechury said. “But in the states also, we wish it would have happened. There should have been greater coordination, there should have been greater cooperation, and that would have been helpful in the process of the 2024 elections.”
The veteran Marxist leader still seemed hopeful. “Now let us see. The processes are still on. The nominations are yet to begin in most of the states,” he said. “Had there been an understanding (samjhauta) it would have been better. We want that there should be an understanding. That’s what I am saying. Now, the process of nominations is about to begin and at this time, if there is any headway, it would be great.”
The CPI(M) did not nominate anyone to the INDIA bloc’s Coordination and Election Strategy Committee in the September Mumbai meeting when 13 parties had picked their members. Yechury disclosed that the position of his party was that there was no need for these committees.”Don’t complicate matters by various levels of decision-making. This was the reason the party had said it would nominate a member later,” he said.
Where is that committee, asked Yechury. “Our position was these sorts of committees are infructuous. The decisions are always taken by the topmost leadership. And in the first meeting, two decisions that this committee took, both had to be reversed. The first decision was to have a public meeting in Bhopal—that had to be reversed. The second decision was to champion the caste census—that had to be reversed because there were objections by a party,” Yechury said.
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