New Delhi: Expressing concern over the future of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, Congress heavyweight P. Chidambaram on Friday said that he is not sure if the Opposition alliance was still intact. Latching on to Chidambaram’s remark, the BJP took a jibe at the Congress, saying even Rahul Gandhi’s close aides knew that the Congress had no future.
Speaking at the launch of a book co-authored by Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav titled Contesting Democratic Deficit, Chidambaram said the condition of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc appears uncertain.
“The future (of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc) is not so bright, as Mr Yadav said. He seems to feel that the alliance is still intact, but I am not sure. It is only Salman (Khurshid) who can answer because he was part of the negotiating team for the I.N.D.I.A. bloc. If the alliance is totally intact, I will be very happy. But it seems that it is frayed,” Chidambaram said.
The Rajya Sabha MP also said that there is still a chance to bring the alliance together. “It can still be put together…there’s still time,” he added.
Chidambaram said the I.N.D.I.A. bloc was facing a strong organisational structure in the BJP and needed to respond accordingly. “In my experience and my reading of history, there has been no political party so formidably organised as the BJP. It’s not just another political party. It’s a machine behind a machine and the two machines control all the machinery in India.”
“From the Election Commission to the lowest police station in the country, they (the BJP) are able to control and sometimes capture these institutions. It is a formidable machinery, as much as can be allowed in a democracy,” Chidambaram said, adding that the elections in India could be influenced to some extent but not completely manipulated.
Khurshid said that the I.N.D.I.A. bloc needed to address internal issues. “We need to address the concerns. The takeaway from Mr Chidambaram’s views is that we have to be prepared for a very major battle in 2029. We have to deal with the whole idea of how to get the alliance partners together,” he said.
Latching on to Chidambaram’s statement, the BJP said that successive defeats have left the Congress scarred. “Chidambaram used the word ‘formidable’ six times to describe the BJP and its election machinery in a speech that lasted less than three minutes. The successive defeats have left the Congress scarred, much like Pakistan after its bases were destroyed by the Indian Air Force,” BJP’s Amit Malviya said in a post on X.
BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla called the I.N.D.I.A. bloc a “tukde-tukde alliance”. “The I.N.D.I.A. bloc was formed only out of selfishness. Theirs is a ‘kushti-dosti’ model. The Left and the Congress will wrestle in Kerala and be friends in Delhi. The TMC and the Congress will wrestle in Bengal and be friends in Delhi. This is not an alliance of commitment but an alliance of convenience,” he said.
