Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took a swipe at opposition INDIA bloc ally Congress, calling them the ‘shortest story’ in Delhi and Punjab. The swipe seemed to hint at yet another roadblock ahead of seat-sharing talks with Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
Addressing the public in Chandigarh, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said, “…The shortest story a mother in Delhi or Punjab, can narrate to her child is ‘Ek thi Congress’…”
In September 2023, Punjab Congress leaders had vehemently opposed any move to forge a tie-up With AAP for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state. There are a total 13 parliamentary seats in Punjab, besides Chandigarh. Currently, the Congress has six members of Parliament (MP) from Punjab.
In October 2023, Leader of the Opposition in Punjab and senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa told had said that an alliance with Congress would mean “signing a death warrant”, according to a News18 report.
“And we do not want to demolish the Congress,” Bajwa added.
Bajwa went on to say the AAP government in the state would soon be toppled by the Congress. “If we get 10-11 seats in the Lok Sabha elections in Punjab (there are 13 seats), we can topple the AAP government. Many AAP MLAs are in touch with us. Whenever we get a chance, we will topple them. If most MLAs of AAP want to come over and don’t want to stay with them, what can I do? Who can save a failed marriage?” Bajwa had told News18.
INDIA Bloc seat sharing: Roadblocks
With the clock ticking for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and preparations taking shape for the party’s “Bharat Nyay Yatra“, the Congress, which sounded its poll bugle at a rally in Nagpur on the 139th Congress Foundation Day, is set to hold a series of high-level meetings.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had expressed her desire to test Bengal waters alone in 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“INDIA alliance will be there across the country. In Bengal, the TMC will fight and defeat the BJP. Remember, in Bengal, only TMC can teach a lesson to the BJP and not any other party,” Mamata said while she was speaking at a gathering in North 24 Parganas.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has been continuously saying that the BJP-led NDA will be defeated in next year’s general elections by “PDA”, which he defined as “Pichde (backward classes), Dalit and Alpasankhyak (minorities)”.
“Removing BJP from Uttar Pradesh means withdrawal of BJP from the country. Defeat 80, remove BJP, and socialist people are working on this slogan. Only PDA will compete with NDA,” Yadav said on Friday.
Further, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had said his party would contest 23 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, and the seat-sharing talks with the Congress have to “start from zero” as the latter had `not won any seat’ in the previous elections
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Published: 01 Jan 2024, 07:25 PM IST
