Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has again changed sides after a gap of one and a half years.
Despite playing an important role in the formation of the opposition INDIA Alliance, the way Nitish Kumar has changed sides overnight has given sleepless nights to parties like Congress.
Big parties of INDIA Alliance including Congress, RJD felt that the opposition would be strong in states like Bihar, Maharashtra and Bengal.
But even before the battle of 2024 begins, bad signals have started coming from these states. BJP is already very strong in the Hindi belt. The only state in this from where a challenge could come was Bihar.
Now BJP is in a direct profitable position due to Nitish Kumar’s defection. Not only this, now there is a situation of crisis regarding Maharashtra also.
Here there is difference of opinion between Uddhav faction’s Shiv Sena and Congress regarding seats. Even the stake in the South Mumbai seat is such that in the end a leader like Milind Deora left the Congress and joined the Shinde group.
Now the challenge before Congress is how to keep the Uddhav group loyal even after the elections. Apart from this, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, which is the party of Prakash Ambedkar, is also doing tough bargaining.
In fact, there is a discussion among Congress strategists that Uddhav Thackeray’s camp can go with BJP any time. Such a situation will make Congress uncomfortable.
Not only this, the situation has become very difficult for Congress in Bengal also. Here TMC has said that it will contest elections separately from Congress.
Apart from this, no consensus has been reached so far even with the left parties. Aam Aadmi Party will fight separately in Punjab and Akhilesh Yadav has taken a very strict line in UP also.
In such a situation, it will not be surprising if in the next few times some other parties other than JDU leave INDIA Alliance.
Ramdas Athawale has even given an open offer to Prakash Ambedkar. He had recently said that if Ambedkar joins INDIA Alliance then he can be given Akola seat.
Not only this, I can also offer my ministerial post to welcome him. However, Prakash Ambedkar has been a sharp critic of BJP.
Still, the situation is difficult for Congress in Maharashtra. One reason for this is that NCP is divided. Sharad Pawar faction wants more seats, but has less power. Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar is with BJP.