The virtual meeting of INDIA Alliance was held on Saturday, 13 January. In this meeting, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was appointed the President of INDIA Alliance. The Indian Express quoted sources as saying that Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal United (JDU) President Nitish Kumar was chosen as the convenor of the opposition alliance. However, he has “refused to become the convenor of the alliance temporarily; he will accept the post only when there is a consensus among the allies.”
What did Pawar say on PM’s face?
On the INDIA alliance meeting, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, “The INDIA alliance meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mallikarjun Kharge. We will all take a decision on seat distribution as soon as possible. Some people suggested that Mallikarjun Kharge should lead the alliance and everyone agreed. We have also formed a committee to plan in the coming days.”
“Everyone suggested that Nitish Kumar should take the responsibility as convenor, but their opinion is that whoever is already in charge should remain.”
Who will be the face of Prime Minister from INDIA alliance? On this question, Pawar said, “If we get majority after the elections, we will be able to give better options to the country.”
After the meeting, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted, ” Leaders of INDIA Coordination Commitee today met online and had a fruitful discussion on the alliance. Everyone is happy that the seat sharing talks are progressing in a positive way. We also discussed about joint programs in the coming days by INDIA Parties. I, along with Rahul Gandhi ji invited all INDIA Parties to join ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ at their convenience and use the opportunity to raise the social, political and economic issues plaguing common people of this country.”
Mamta did not attend the meeting
According to the Indian Express report, sources said that Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav did not attend today’s meeting.
Sources said the meeting was attended by heads of several parties who are members of the bloc’s coordination committee, including Kharge, NCP president Sharad Pawar, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and AAP convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Days after TMC refused to join seat-sharing talks with the Congress National Alliance Committee, the party on Friday had said it would not attend today’s meeting. Earlier this week, TMC indicated that it was ready to give two or three seats to Congress in Bengal. However, this proposal was rejected by the state Congress.
At the same time, leaders of some parties of the INDIA alliance said that TMC is not really excited about the idea of appointing Nitish Kumar as the convenor.
For several weeks, the JDU was of the view that Kharge should be appointed president of the alliance and Nitish Kumar as convenor – a combination of North and South that would send a positive signal to the people in the absence of a prime ministerial face for the alliance in the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress was not keen on leading the alliance as it knew that some regional parties were not comfortable with the idea. However, if there is a consensus among the parties in the alliance, there was talk of appointing Nitish Kumar as the convenor.
According to the Indian Express report, sources said that JDU has contacted several constituent parties in the last two weeks to seek support for its proposal. However, the party was also unhappy with Congress’s stance on this issue.
