New Delhi: The Opposition INDIA bloc decided in their fourth meeting Tuesday to hold eight to ten joint rallies across the nation “to tell people about the alliance and that it was united and going strong”.
No clear timeline, however, emerged from the meeting on the contentious issue of seat-sharing before the 2024 general elections.
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Jha only said there had been “clear discussions” on seat-sharing among alliance partners and also about mass-contact programmes. The leader from Bihar said these would be finalised in the next three weeks.
Jha added that the meeting could not decide on a convenor for the alliance.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said all parties were ready to hit the ground together. “Seats will be distributed very soon,” Yadav told reporters after the meeting.
Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary D. Raja said the main issue discussed was how to sort out seat-sharing at the state level. “We must conclude the seat-sharing negotiations as early as possible,” Raja said, making it clear there was still no consensus on the issue.
Addressing reporters after Tuesday’s meeting, which was attended by 28 heads of parties, Kharge said the leaders had also passed a resolution to condemn the suspension of 141 MPs from Parliament over the security breach deadlock.
“The suspensions were undemocratic and we are ready to fight it out,” Kharge said, adding that the opposition alliance would hold nationwide protests on 22 December against the action by the government. The Winter Session of Parliament ends on that day.
“If the prime minister and home minister think that nobody can rule India except them, then we will demolish that perception,” the Congress chief said.
Meanwhile, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (MDMK) Vaiko hinted that alliance members had proposed Kharge as the prime ministerial face for 2024. The proposal was apparently made by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
But Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan said that Kharge rejected this point immediately, saying there was no need to announce a PM face or an alliance coordinator now. “This will be decided only after the polls,” he said. Tuesday’s meeting was also attended by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
VIDEO | "(West Bengal CM) Mamata Banerjee proposed that we (INDIA alliance) should project (Congress president) Mallikarjun Kharge as our PM candidate. However, Kharge rejected her point, saying there is no point in announcing a coordinator or our PM face. He said that we should… pic.twitter.com/T0BwKz8Gcv
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 19, 2023
Evolving a “core agenda”, seat-sharing and a consensus over joint rallies were among the many questions facing the INDIA bloc as it went into Tuesday’s meeting — the fourth since the alliance was formed earlier this year.
Leaders of 28 parties gathered in the national capital to address key issues as they prepared to tame differences ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The meeting took place in the backdrop of the Congress’s heavy defeat to the BJP in head-to-head battles in the heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Several opposition partners had expressed displeasure with the Congress for going it alone in these polls.