Mumbai: The INDIA bloc has announced a 14-member coordination committee with representatives for different parties and also put together a resolution to “contest the Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible.”
The two-day meeting of the INDIA bloc concluded on Friday in Mumbai, where 28 parties adopted a resolution where seat sharing arrangements will be initiated on an immediate basis and concluded at the earliest.
The 14-member committee that will look after the coordination has KC Venugopal from Congress, Sharad Pawar from NCP, TR Baalu from DMK, Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lalan Singh (JDU), Hemant Soren (JMM), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC), and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP).
Name of one member from CPI(M) will be announced later.
The resolution also further states that the alliance will organise public rallies as soon as possible in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance.
The coordination committee will also amalgamate the communication and work to build media strategies and campaigns with the theme ‘Judega Bharat, Jiteega India’ in different languages.
Moreover, there are four other committees that are formed – a campaign committee, a group for social media, a media group, and another group for research work.
As many as 63 representatives from 28 Opposition parties attended the third formal meeting of the INDIA alliance in Mumbai.
The Mumbai meeting and the resolution came amid the Centre’s announcement of a special session of the Parliament from 18 to 22 September Thursday. A day later, Friday, the central government also announced that it has constituted a committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of ‘one nation, one election’.
The Opposition has slammed the government’s move to set up this committee. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut called it a “conspiracy to postpone elections”, while Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the countdown for the exit of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-ruled “autocratic” government has begun.
At the press conference, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that those who are sitting on this podium represent 60% of India’s population. “So if we all unite, then we will definitely defeat the BJP.”
Lalu Prasad Yadav said that all parties agreed to compromise for seat sharing.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that in the next few days, there might be rumours that things between our alliance are not fine. “They will say we are fighting in these meetings. But that is not true. We are all together and have responsibilities between us. No one here is for any post.”
Right after the INDIA meet, addressing party workers, Rahul said, “Hamari party toh nahi tooti (Our party didn’t split).”
“In Maharashtra, which is the party that is standing tall? Hamari party toh nahi tooti. Why? Because you are a party with ideology. I’ll tell you the difference between a party with ideology and others. If we take blood out of you people, the DNA will be the same. You are not scared of anyone. This is the congress party karyakarta. This is your blood.”
“Modi had given the slogan of Congress mukt Bharat. When superpower – England – wasn’t able to make Congress-mukt Bharat. How will the Modi government do it? Instead, Congress removed it (from India). And Modi ji thinks he and Adani will remove the Congress party. He thinks Adani’s money can remove the Congress party.”
Uddhav Thackeray also addressed the media separately after the press conference where he said that there is now no need for a convenor.
“Various committees are formed who will now take care of the national program, social media campaign, and rallies. All parties’ representatives are there. “So, now there is no need for a convenor. We will analyze the situation and now it is time to take action. We will soon even hold a joint public rally.”
(With inputs from agencies)