No 'one-size-fits-all solution': Shashi Tharoor on INDIA bloc seat-sharing

The ultimate aim of the Opposition INDIA alliance is to change the government at the Centre, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said, amid the turmoil in the alliance. Tharoor also said that discussions on seat-sharing were ongoing and that no one was going to have a one-size-fits-all solution.

"This whole alliance and seat-sharing is being discussed on a state-by-state basis. No one is going to have a one-size-fits-all solution. In each state, the story is going to be different," Tharoor said while addressing the media in Kolkata.

"I think we are all focused on the imperative need to change the Union government and that is the ultimate objective," he added.

Tharoor's statement comes as crisis deepened within the INDIA alliance after Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar indicated a switch to the NDA and his party said on Saturday that the opposition alliance was collapsing.

The Congress alleged that the BJP is doing its best to cause a "mini implosion" in the coalition.

The Congress, however, also exuded confidence that both Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, being co-architects of the INDIA bloc, would remain a part of the alliance, after Banerjee had announced that her party TMC would fight the Lok Sabha elections "alone" in the state.

Meanwhile, if Nitish Kumar decides to return to the NDA fold, it will be another big blow to the opposition front formed to take on the BJP.

Kumar had joined hands with the RJD, founded by his former arch-rival Lalu Prasad, in August 2022 after he severed ties with the BJP.

In view of the fast-moving political developments in Bihar, the Congress appointed former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel as the senior observer, and he headed to Patna on Saturday to talk to other parties and take stock of the situation within the party.