Cracks in INDIA bloc widen as Sena, SP spar in Maha, TMC aloof in Parl

Fissures in the INDIA bloc seem to have widened with the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Sunday alleging that the Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit has been behaving like the BJP’s “B team”.

Mamata, Akhilesh skip Cong-led protests in parliament

• A day after SP’s Maha unit decided to exit MVA, the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Sunday alleged the party “is behaving like the BJP's B team”
• The TMC has been skipping Opposition protests in Parl over the Adani issue, the SP is miffed over “lack of support” on Sambhal issue
• Mamata maintains she is more keen on raising people-centric issues like price rise, Sambhal as well as ethnic strife in Manipur

The remarks by Shiv Sena (UBT) legislative party chief Aaditya Thackeray came a day after the Maharashtra SP decided to exit the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) following a post on X by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Milind Narwekar “glorifying” Babri demolition.

Aaditya, however, made a distinction between the SP led by Akhilesh Yadav and its state unit. “Akhilesh is fighting, but here (in Maharashtra), they sometimes behave like the BJP’s B team,” Aaditya said on Sunday.

Earlier, differences among INDIA bloc partners, mainly the Congress, TMC and the SP, came to the fore during the winter session of Parliament, especially with regard to coordination on issues like Adani and Sambhal.

On December 7, Maharashtra SP chief and MLA Abu Azmi said he would prefer to exit the alliance than “side with those professing a communal ideology”. Two SP lawmakers had on Saturday defied the MVA call to boycott the special Assembly session called to take oath as MLAs.

On the other hand, for the entire duration of the winter session so far, the TMC has been skipping anti-Adani protests led by Rahul Gandhi. The SP too didn’t participate in these agitations.

While the TMC has been shying away from raising the Adani issue in Parliament, the SP seems to be unhappy over the Congress’ “lack of support” on the issue of Sambhal violence.

Senior SP leaders have indicated that they don’t “understand” the Adani issue, with a party MP saying though they received messages from the Congress to participate in the protests on the issue last week, they did not do so.

Sources in the SP indicated the Congress did not support them during the Sambhal violence on which Akhilesh spoke in the Lok Sabha on December 3. This seems quite perplexing as the Congress on December 2 had raised the Sambhal violence while protesting in Parliament after several INDIA bloc parties asked it to focus more on this case to corner the Centre.

Congress sources, however, indicated that the SP seemed miffed by the fact that Rahul had tried to visit Sambhal on his own, although he was stopped by the UP police.

The TMC on its part has already told the Congress that it is more keen on raising people-centric issues like price rise and Sambhal violence as well as ethnic strife in Manipur, rather than the Adani issue which does not resonate with the people.