The India alliance was on the verge of breaking between the assembly elections in two big states, then the entry of Sharad Pawar and Lalu and…

New Delhi : Two big states. Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Election atmosphere at both the places. In both places the Indian alliance was on the verge of breaking. Maha Vikas Akhari in Maharashtra is the only INDIA. The issue of seat sharing in the alliance was so entangled that sometimes Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray and sometimes Congress were hesitant. There were talks of contesting the elections alone. Same was the situation in Jharkhand. Tejashwi Yadav was adamant on respectable seats for RJD. Things didn’t seem to be working out. But then two middle-class players of politics enter the scene. Such an entry that the entire scene changes. The alliance which was on the verge of breaking, agrees on seat sharing. These two stalwarts, the players’ players, are none other than Sharad Pawar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.The chant of ‘Ekla Chalo’ started resonating in the alliance.
First of all let’s talk about Maharashtra. Voting is on November 20 in the state with 288 assembly seats. The issue of seat sharing in Mahavikas Aghadi was so entangled that Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut was repeatedly hinting in public that if the talks on seats were not resolved then he/she would go alone. The melody of Ekla Chalo Re started resonating within Maharashtra Congress also.

Congress leaders had to appeal with a knife
Seeing no scope for compromise, state Congress leaders appealed to National President Mallikarjun Kharge. The High Command hurriedly summoned the state leaders to Delhi for discussions. Kharge gave the responsibility to Congress Legislature Party leader Bala Saheb Thorat to talk to Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray to resolve the matter.

On the instructions of Mallikarjun Kharge, Thorat also met both Pawar and Thackeray briefly but did not talk. After this, Congress leaders started feeling that the time has come to leave the MVA and contest the elections alone. On the other hand, Shiv Sena UBT was already getting impatient on seat sharing.

Breaking the alliance would have been a ‘walkover’ for the Grand Alliance!
Sharad Pawar’s entry comes amidst the growing echo of ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ among the alliance partners. Because if the MVA partners had contested the elections separately, it would have completely cleared the field for the BJP-led grand alliance.

Sharad Pawar’s entry and the problem solved
Sharad Pawar spoke to Sanjay Raut, Thorat and Uddhav Thackeray. After that, Sharad Pawar held a meeting with State Congress President Nana Patole, Shiv Sena UBT’s Sanjay Raut, NCP (SP)’s Jayant Patil and Congress Legislature Party leader Balasaheb Thorat. After his/her intervention, what seemed to be worsening was resolved. The issue of 255 seats was resolved in a jiffy.

It was decided that the three major parties of the alliance i.e. Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP SP will contest elections on 85-85 seats. 18 seats were left for smaller parties in the alliance. The issue of the remaining 15 seats has not been resolved. Of these, 3 seats are in Mumbai and 12 in Vidarbha.

Sharad Pawar explained that further delay is not right. Where consensus has been reached, the work of deciding candidates and filing nominations will proceed. Talks will continue regarding the remaining 15 seats. According to the formula which was being discussed earlier, Congress was to get 105 seats, NCP-SP 84 and Shiv Sena-UBT 95 seats. It is clear that NCP-SP is in advantage, which has just got candidature on 85 seats.

The alliance was on the verge of breaking in Jharkhand also
Now let’s talk about Jharkhand. Voting is to be held in two phases on November 13 and 20 in Jharkhand, which has 81 assembly seats. Although RJD does not have much strength in Jharkhand, formed after the division of Bihar, its existence cannot be denied there. Tejashwi Yadav wanted respectable seats for his/her party. Giving seats to RJD means less seats for Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress.

Tejashwi was about to announce that he/she would contest the elections alone.
RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha was claiming that there are at least 15 to 18 seats in Jharkhand where his/her party can defeat BJP on its own. It is another matter that last time his/her party had contested elections on 7 seats and was able to win only one seat.

The issue of seats got so complicated that Tejashwi Yadav got angry. he/she was about to announce that he/she would contest the elections alone when his/her father Lalu Prasad Yadav got wind of it.

Lalu’s call to Soren made things worse
According to the report of ‘The Hindu’, seeing the alliance disintegrating, Lalu turned the phone to JMM leader and CM Hemant Soren. As soon as he/she intervened, things started getting worse. RJD will now contest elections only under the banner of India Alliance. he/she has candidature for 6 seats.