Congress ready to forge pre-poll alliances

The Congress is willing to have pre-poll alliances with “like-minded parties” against the BJP and parties friendly to the BJP in the coming state Assembly polls, but a final call would have to be taken by the AICC group on pre-poll alliances.

AICC communications department chief Randeep Surjewala on Wednesday clarified the party’s stand while responding to a question on DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi’s offer to the Congress to fight the coming Tamil Nadu Assembly polls together.

While Tamil Nadu Congress chief E.V.K.S. Elangovan thanked Mr Karunanidhi the other day for the invitation and said he would convey the offer to the party high command, the West Bengal and Assam Congress units are still undecided.

The AICC sub-group on pre-poll alliances consists of Mr A.K. Antony, Mr Mohan Prakash, Mr Mukul Wasnik, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, Mr Suresh Pachouri and Mr Jitendra Singh.

In West Bengal, arch-rivals Trinamul Congress (led by Ms Mamata Banerjee) and the Left want to ally with the Sonia Gandhi-led party in the coming electoral battle while the All-India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) of Mr Badruddin Ajmal has yet to make up its mind in Assam where the BJP will fight the polls in alliance with regional parties and groups against the ruling Congress.

The Assam and Kerala elections are crucial to the Congress because it has been in power there, but its priority in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu is to increase its numbers by allying with the right allies.

An alliance with the Left in West Bengal would have a direct bearing on the Kerala elections where the LDF has been the main rival of the Congress-led UDF. At the national level, the Congress has been depending on the Trinamul Congress for support in Parliament because the Trinamul’s strength in the Lok Sabha is 34 and 12 in the Rajya Sabha. The Congress could lose the backing of 46 MPs if it prefers the Left. Besides, the Congress is not in a position to come to power in West Bengal on its own and could remain a junior partner of either the Left or the Trinamul Congress.

In Maharashtra, the Congress has only one member more than the NCP in the Assembly but the Sharad Pawar-led party has more Lok Sabha members than the Congress.

The Congress needs allies in over half a dozen states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, besides Kerala.