Separate Jammu and Kashmir Lok Sabha, state polls buoy Congress-National Conference tie-up hopes

NEW DELHI: The uncoupling of assembly and parliamentary elections in J&K has brightened the possibilities for an alliance between Congress and National Conference.

Congress has sewn together pacts in Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand while seat sharing, sources said, will be finalised soon in Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Kerala has a settled Congress alliance in the form of UDF. There could be a push yet for an alliance with AAP despite an apparent lack of chemistry.



The Bihar alliance would include RJD and RLSP while Congress runs a coalition government with JD(S) in Karnataka. Maharashtra would have, apart from NCP, Raju Shetti’s Swabhimani Paksha and the Left. In Bengal, where the tie-up has not been firmed up, a Congress and Left pact, or an unannounced seat adjustment, is in the making to take on Trinamool Congress.

The situation as regards Delhi remains unclear. While an alliance with AAP was rejected by Congress last week, a section within has revived efforts, arguing BJP will be unbeatable in a three-way contest. The big weakness for Congress is its exclusion from the SP-BSP tie-up in UP and its dwindling presence in states where satraps have ruled.

Despite having just six seats, J&K is seen to hold special significance with a strong showing here embellishing a national party’s credentials. Congress sources said simultaneous polls to the assembly and Parliament would have complicated a tie-up with NC, given overlapping interests in constituencies. But now, Congress believes a tie-up with NC could be the way forward, especially with BJP and PDP on separate paths.

Andhra Pradesh was set to see a pact between Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Congress but the former changed its mind after the “mahakutami” was decimated by TRS in Telangana in December. With the feedback that Congress suffered because of TDP’s anti-Telangana image, Naidu became wary that he, too, may be hit since Congress is viewed as the villain in Andhra. There are crucial exceptions that could hold the key in a tight finish — parties that have not allied with either of the national rivals and are free to swing either way at the Centre. These include YSR Congress in Andhra and TRS. There is also BJD in Odisha