Left parties enter fray in three states as talks with ally Congress come a cropper | India News

NEW DELHI: Seat-sharing talks between Congress, CPI and CPM have reached a dead end in poll-bound Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and MP, leading the two Left parties to enter the poll fray independent of their INDIA partner.
While the CPM is set to contest 17 seats in Rajasthan, three in Chhattisgarh and four in Madhya Pradesh, the CPI will contest 16 in Chhattisgarh, 12 in Rajasthan and is likely to field candidates on about nine seats in MP.In Telangana, both parties are in advanced stages of negotiation on seat-sharing with Congress and a final decision – likely two seats each for both – is expected soon.
Though tighlipped about the impact of the failure to reach a consensus on seat-sharing negotiations on the INDIA grouping, Yechury acknowledged that it would have been “better” if an agreement could have been reached.

“The opinion of the majority in the INDIA bloc is that this bloc was formed with the 2024 Parliament elections in mind. That was the declared objective. However, in the states also, we wish it would have happened. There should have been greater coordination and cooperation and that would have been helpful in the process for the 2024 elections,” Yechury said, following a meeting of the party’s Central Committee, where it was decided to contest all impending polls independently, if seat-sharing talks between the allies collapsed.
CPI’s Raja, however, appeared less accepting of Congress’ unwillingness, underscoring yet again the need for the grand old party to show the “spirit of accommodation” toward its junior partners in the INDIA bloc and saying that such a disobliging stance could make future negotiations difficult.

Incidentally, the Left parties’ decision to contest the impending polls independently comes close on the heels of a sharp exchange between Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Kamal Nath earlier this month over seat-sharing, when the two parties were unable to reach an agreement on the constituencies SP would contest on if it entered into an alliance with Congress in MP.
Though the bitter back-and-forth settled down eventually and was brushed aside as commonplace in election season, SP and other INDIA partners, including JDU and AAP have since announced their decision to contest the impending polls independently of Congress, preparing the ground for a multi-polar contests not just in Madhya Pradesh, but also in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, where both SP and AAP will field candidates.