To avoid bifurcation of secular votes, the Congress-NCP alliance has decided to rope in the smaller, but significant, outfits for the assembly polls.
The ruling combine may join hands with the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and other groups of the Republic Party of India. These parties have got a significant presence in many pockets of the state.
NCP president Sharad Pawar has already hinted that they would first resolve the seat-sharing issue with Congress and then initiate efforts to bring in more parties to their fold.
"It will help us to consolidate our vote bank. We will be able to put up a tacit fight to the saffron alliance. In Lok Sabha, the secular votes got divided which benefitted the BJP. For the bypolls, secular parties forged an alliance with like-minded parties. As a result, the BJP faced a drubbing," said Nawab Malik, the NCP spokesperson.
In state polls, the margin of victory is much less as compared to general elections, so strategy and management play a big part. "The bypoll results have given us strength to turn the table. People have realised that rather than controlling inflation, generating jobs and giving good price to farmers for their products, the BJP took the communal line," said Jakir Ahmad, general secretary, Mumbai Regional Congress Committee.
Besides, Tuesday's results have brought those Congress-NCP leaders, who had taken a backseat during the Lok Sabha poll, into focus. "In a way, it is a moral booster for us. The results have changed people's perceptions about Modi wave. Instead of galvanising the grass roots cadres, BJP leaders are busy lobbying for the chief minister's post. This infighting and tussle with Sena over seat-sharing will cost them dearly in assembly elections," said a political observer.
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