Breaking News: INDIA Bloc Faces Cracks from Bihar to Maharashtra Ahead of BMC and Bihar Polls

The INDIA coalition, formed with the aim of coordinating the opposition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), looks as if it is beginning to develop serious cracks from Bihar to Maharashtra. In Bihar, the Mahagathbandhan continues to grapple with not being able to agree on seat-sharing, despite multiple meetings and discussions it has held. Even as the deadline for nominations expired, it was unable to reach agreement, leading to a situation where coalition firms were opposing each other on 14 seats. They call it a “friendly fight”, but the implications all point to troublesome coordination issues in the heterogenous opposition group. Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, the internal issue of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) also escalated in the days leading up to the BMC elections. Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad and Bhai Jagtap publicly opposed an alliance in the local elections with Raj Thackeray’s party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, stating that they would “not be joining hands with man who had betrayed his own brother” going on to say they “would not merge with Uddhav Thackeray”, who themself has been unable to provide a positive narrative to situate their fraught relationships inside MVA. The dynamic in Maharashtra was exploited by the BJP with claims about how coordination between parties in the INDIA bloc were already deteriorating in the days leading up to the Bihar elections, laughing at Congress’ internal dysfunction and attempting to demonstrate how they are losing support within the opposition. Many in the BJP felt Congress attempting to distance itself from Raj Thackeray was a desperate attempt to save their vote bank. With internecine, pointless, infighting across the board, the INDIA coalition’s narrative of “unity” will soon be at its greatest test.

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