Congress' loss may give allies edge in Maharashtra, Jharkhand talks

NEW DELHI: Congress 's defeat in Haryana certainly came as an unexpected jolt to the INDIA coalition of opposition parties. But this "reality check" has also brought a sense of relief to the allies - regional parties, strong in their own domain - in terms of working out coalition deals, especially for the row of upcoming state polls. They will have to deal with a slightly more restrained Congress, rather than an exuberant and overconfident party that emerged after the Lok Sabha "victory" with 99 seats, which often led to it side-lining the demands of partners.

This was reflected early on Tuesday with Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi losing no time in responding to early trends showing Congress falling behind BJP , saying, "Even after anti-incumbency BJP is winning... somewhere it shows that Congress will have to take a re-look at its own battle plans, look within itself, and take into account that whenever there is a direct fight with BJP, Congress seems to be falling weak. It has to rework the entire alliance..."

With the Maharashtra elections around the corner, where Congress is in alliance with Udhav Thackaray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar's NCP, an overconfident Congress has not been as responsive to the crucial seat-sharing arrangement and also to Sena's demand for Thackaray to be projected as the CM face.

The defeat in Haryana and the lacklustre performance in Jammu could prompt Congress to set aside its swagger and return to a more cooperative approach, which would help establish agreeable terms among the alliance members.

While Arvind Kejriwal's AAP ended with no seats in Haryana, where the INDIA coalition partner contested on its own, working out the equations for the Delhi elections early next year could get easier for Kejriwal who seemed to remind the Congress leadership on Tuesday that "no election should be taken lightly. Each election and each seat is tough", while addressing AAP municipal councillors on Tuesday, as the Haryana trends got clear.

The ex-Delhi CM's words - "Let us see what the results are in Haryana. The biggest lesson of this (election results) is that one should never be overconfident in the elections" - seemed to be hurled at Congress as much as his own party.

The Delhi election is a challenge for Kejriwal, in terms of dealing with Congress, with both parties working to keep BJP at bay while ensuring they do not concede space to each other. The Congress-AAP alliance failed to work in LS polls, resulting in BJP retaining all the seven seats in the capital.

While there has been no word from JMM chief Hemant Soren from Jharkhand, preparing to go to polls alongside Maharashtra, the Haryana results will certainly make it easier for the Morcha leadership to work out the alliance deal with its partner Congress in the state.