Congress keen to close seat-sharing talks with INDIA by January 15
Ready to give seats in its bastion to partners
The Congress high command has signaled to INDIA alliance partners that it is keen to close seat-sharing talks for the Lok Sabha polls with them before January 15. More than the Gandhis, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is keen that seat-sharing talks be fast-tracked so that INDIA can move towards holding joint rallies wherever possible.
If reports emanating from sources close to Rahul Gandhi are any indication, he has said that his party is not averse to making Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) chief Nitish Kumar as convener of the INDIA alliance. But it should not rock the INDIA alliance boat itself as other partners like TMC, AAP, SP etc may also accept such a proposal.
The Congress has also indicated to its allies that it is open to sharing seats with them in some of its own strong-holds like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and a couple of other states. Kharge and Rahul Gandhi seem to be on the same page in respect of giving a one-to-one fight to the NDA in around 400 seats if not 450 in 2024 polls.
The Congress will start formal conversations on seat sharing with INDIA Bloc partners after January 4 when its state units submit their status report about the ground level situation. The state units have been clearly told that no should not stake claim on excessive seats as they did during the Assembly polls. The Madhya Pradesh unit has been clearly told that it will have to leave seats for the allies and the writ of the high command will run in allocation of seats. There are some difficult states where differences exist. But considering the threat from the NDA, the INDIA allies are keen to close the chapter by January 15 too.
