Congress throws ‘Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’ jibe at Nitish, but fears its chances of bettering 2019 tally hit

The journey of the Opposition INDIA alliance began at his official residence seven months ago. As Nitish Kumar walked out of the alliance Sunday to return to the BJP-led NDA, the leaders of the embattled Opposition coalition were clearly at their wits’ end despite sensing the Bihar situation over the last few days. The biggest setback though is for the Congress.

Virtually wiped out of the Hindi heartland in the last round of Assembly elections, the grand old party’s cold comfort in the northern belt was the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar and the seat sharing pact it is negotiating with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Barring Jharkhand where it is in alliance with the JMM, the Congress is in a straight fight with the BJP in all other Hindi speaking states.

More than the number of seats it would secure in the alliance and win, the Congress was hoping that the INDIA bloc would put a stop to the Narendra Modi juggernaut in these two states, which together account for 120 seats. With Kumar walking away and rejoining the NDA, there is now uncertainty on the INDIA bloc’s electoral fate in Bihar.

In UP, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has offered the Congress 11 seats out of the total 80. Not a bad deal given the Congress’s strength in the state. The party is asking for more but many believe it should not push beyond a point lest that upsets the SP and break that alliance too. With Kumar walking out, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee and the AAP’s Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann declaring their decisions not to tie up with the Congress in West Bengal and Punjab respectively, the latter has little elbow room to indulge in hard bargaining with the SP now.

Bengal CM Mamata is also keeping the Congress on tenterhooks and