TMC to deploy Shatrughan Sinha to campaign for AAP in Delhi, send Congress a message

The move reflects the deepening chasm between the Congress and INDIA parties, with many of them throwing their weight behind Arvind Kejriwal in the AAP’s bitter and high-octane contest against the BJP as well as the Congress in Delhi.

Apart from the TMC and SP, the Congress’s Maharashtra allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) have also thrown their weight behind the AAP, with the Kejriwal-led party seen to be in a far better position to defeat the BJP than the Congress in Delhi.

AAP supporters at a rally addressed by former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, ahead of the Delhi Assembly elections scheduled for February 5. (Express Photo/Tashi Tobgyal)

Sinha, the TMC’s Asansol MP, will address rallies for top AAP leaders, including Kejriwal (New Delhi seat), AAP incumbent Chief Minister Atishi (Kalkaji) and former Deputy CM Manish Sisodia (Jungpura). The entry of the actor, popularly known as ‘Bihari Babu’, is expected to spice up the contest for the Capital’s Purvanchali vote – estimated to be about one-third of the electorate. Sinha can go toe-to-toe with the BJP’s two most prominent Purvanchali campaigners, Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishen, who are also tinseltown faces from Bihar.

Sources said there is a possibility that another TMC MP known for his association with Bihar could campaign for the AAP.

For the Congress, Shatrughan Sinha campaigning for the AAP is particularly bitter as Rahul Gandhi himself had been instrumental in wooing the Bollywood actor away from the BJP after decades of his association with the party, just ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Sinha was fielded by the Congress from the Patna Sahib seat, and lost. In 2022, he left the Congress to join the TMC.

Having staved off the BJP’s challenge in Bengal in successive elections, including recent Assembly bypolls, the TMC has started challenging the Congress’s position as the presumptive leader of INDIA. Several INDIA parties have backed TMC chief Mamata Banerjee for leadership of the alliance, including old Congress friend Lalu Prasad.

TMC leaders point out that unlike Banerjee’s record against the BJP, the Congress has lost almost every one-on-one election against the BJP, and also question the Congress’s ability to rally other parties behind it.

The TMC’s decision to join the Delhi campaign is set to intensify the Congress’s isolation within the INDIA bloc. Another defeat for the Congress in Delhi, where it ruled for 15 straight years before losing power to the AAP, will open the Congress to further scrutiny.

On the other hand, having lent its hand and leaders to the AAP, the TMC can be sure of its backing in the INDIA leadership sweepstakes. The sense in the TMC is that NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar and Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray are also amenable to backing Banerjee, leaving the Congress with the support of only the DMK and the Left among major INDIA bloc constituents.

In voicing support for Banerjee, the RJD and Lalu have separately turned up the pressure on the Congress in Bihar, which goes for elections next. The RJD would prefer a weakened Congress that is in little position to flex its muscles during seat-sharing talks.

In the 2020 Assembly polls in Bihar, the Congress had indulged in much hard bargaining and secured as many as 70 seats, of which it could win only 19. On the other hand, the RJD, as part of the Mahagathbandhan with the Congress, had contested in 144 seats and won 75. Even the CPI(ML)(L) had a better record than the Congress in the alliance, winning 12 of the 19 seats it contested.