New Delhi: The Congress leaders on Sunday acknowledged the exit of Nitish Kumar from the INDIA bloc was a temporary setback but claimed his move will not impact the opposition unity ahead of the national elections.
According to several senior Congress leaders ETV Bharat spoke to, it was good that Nitish Kumar was not made the convenor of the INDIA bloc, which would have been a bigger jolt to the opposition alliance.
“In hindsight, I think it was correct that Nitish Kumar was not made the convenor of the INDIA alliance. His credibility as a politician had always been doubtful and if he had left after being given that key alliance post, it would have been worse,” former Congress Working Committee member Tariq Anwar told ETV Bharat.
“Nitish Kumar’s credibility had always been doubtful. He has switched loyalties several times over the past years. He left the BJP to join Congress and RJD and now he is back with them,” AICC secretary in charge of Gujarat BM Sandeep Kumar said.
“Nitish Kumar’s credibility had been under doubt. His joining hands with the BJP exposes him and the saffron party. While the BJP had said its doors were closed for Nitish Kumar, the JD-U leader had said he would prefer to die than go back to the BJP. What happened to all those lofty claims,” AICC secretary in charge of Maharashtra Ashish Dua said.
According to the senior Congress leaders, seat-sharing talks between the INDIA alliance partners were progressing well in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Tamil Nadu and the opposition grouping would do much better than was being projected.
“Nitish Kumar quitting the INDIA alliance may be a small setback but his move will have no major impact on the INDIA alliance. Nitish Kumar's joining hands with the BJP has dented his credibility in Bihar. Now, more seats are available to the Congress, RJD and the Left parties which will work out a seat-sharing formula in Bihar and do well in the Lok Sabha polls,” said Tariq Anwar.
“Even in West Bengal, TMC chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee had said she will fight the coming national elections alone. But she is still part of the INDIA alliance,” said Anwar. “The seat-sharing talks in Maharashtra between Congress-Shiv Sena UBT and NCP are progressing in a congenial atmosphere and will be concluded soon. UP looked like a tough state but a very good start has been made there. Similarly, seat-sharing will be worked out in other states smoothly,” said Dua.
According to the senior Congress leaders, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which resumed in West Bengal on Sunday from Jalpaiguri, had made the BJP nervous as the former party chief was flagging real public issues like joblessness, price rise and the need for social justice.
“Rahul Gandhi’s message is resonating with the people of the country and this has made the BJP nervous. See how the yatra was targeted in Assam but the response of the people was very encouraging. The opposition alliance is doing well and will fight the coming polls together,” AICC general secretary in charge of Assam Jitendra Singh told ETV Bharat.
“If the BJP is confident of getting 400 seats nationally as per their claim, what was the need to disrupt the opposition alliance in Bihar and take back Nitish Kumar. The yatra’s message of justice has been liked by the people and this has made the BJP nervous. We don’t know if Nitish Kumar is going back to the BJP due to the ED or CD. We remained silent despite knowing that he was going. No one in the INDIA alliance is upset because of this,” Congress media head Pawan Khera told ETV Bharat.
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