Tensions Rise Within INDIA Bloc As Various Parties Seek To Replace Congress With Mamata Banerjee As Leader

New Delhi: The wheels of the INDIA bloc appear to be coming apart as various parties are openly advocating usurping the leadership role of the alliance from the Congress and giving it to Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee. (No one, of course, had officially assigned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi the role of bloc leader).

On Tuesday evening, Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal met Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar at his residence to discuss Banerjee’s December 6 statement that she was willing to lead the INDIA bloc.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee Stakes Claim To The Leadership Role

In an interview with News18 Bangla, Banerjee had staked claim to the leadership role saying, “I had formed the INDIA bloc, now it is up to those leading the front to manage it. If they can’t run the show, what can I do? I will only say that everyone needs to be taken along.” She added that “If given the opportunity, I would ensure its smooth functioning.” Pawar had subsequently stated in Kolhapur on Saturday that Banerjee was a “capable leader”.

RJD leader Lalu Prasad too said in Patna that “Mamata Banerjee should be allowed to head the INDIA bloc”. He also added that the Congress’s opposition to the idea would not make any difference. While the NCP (SP), AAP and the RJD had contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress, in the ensuing months they appear to have realised that the grand old party has not been able to live up to the expectation of providing leadership to the bloc despite its enhanced numbers in the House.

Since some of the allies of the Congress vie with it for political space, they are now trying to assign the Gandhi family-ruled party to a secondary role within the alliance. What has also peeved several of the alliance partners, including the NCP(SP), SP and the TMC is the obsession of the Congress in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular with the Adani issue and the way it has been allowed to obstruct Parliament proceedings.

Over the past week, several parties have stayed away from the protests led by the Congress. Politically too it is expedient for them to keep the Congress away from a leadership role in the bloc to have greater leverage in negotiation over seats during polls. This appears to be the reason why Lalu Prasad has spoken out now.