Key INDIA bloc meet today after 92 Opposition MPs suspended from Parliament
The Opposition INDIA bloc will hold a crucial meeting in Delhi on Tuesday to discuss various issues, including seat-sharing, joint campaign blueprint.
And chalking out a strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. A plan of action is expected to be discussed following its setback in the recent assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
The meeting assumes significance as it is being held in the midst of the Winter Session of Parliament, during which a total of 92 MPs from different Opposition parties were suspended from the House, the highest during a single session. On Monday, 78 Opposition MPs — 33 from Lok Sabha and 45 from Rajya Sabha — were suspended, marking the highest number of suspensions in a day.
The 92 members were suspended for holding protests and raising slogans over the December 13 Lok Sabha security breach incident.
A day before the meeting, which will be held at the Ashoka Hotel, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee said the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate will be decided after the 2024 general election. She expressed confidence that the alliance will iron out all issues, including seat-sharing, to defeat the BJP.
This will be the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc. The first meeting was held in Patna on June 23. The second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18 and the third in Mumbai between August 31 and September 1, where the 27 Opposition parties had adopted resolutions to unitedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren will skip the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi today due to his tight schedule. He is expected to address a programme in Gumla.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the party that Hemant Soren belongs to, will send three of its representatives for the meeting. Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji, Lok Sabha MP Vijay Hansada and party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya have been nominated to participate in the meeting.
Earlier, the INDIA bloc meeting was postponed to December 17 after top leaders in the alliance, including Nitish Kumar, Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav decided to skip the meeting which was first called on December 6.
The meeting on December 6 was called by the Congress on the day the election results of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Rajasthan were announced. While the grand old party was routed in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, it won in Telangana, wresting power from the K Chandrashekar Rao-led Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
Several Opposition leaders, including Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo Uddhav Thackeray, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav have already arrived in the national capital.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren will skip the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi today due to his tight schedule. He is expected to address a programme in Gumla.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the party that Hemant Soren belongs to, will send three of its representatives for the meeting. Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji, Lok Sabha MP Vijay Hansada and party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya have been nominated to participate in the meeting.
On Monday, Mamata Banerjee met with Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and discussed the political situation in the country. Following the meeting, the TMC chief said she was ready to campaign for alliance partners across the country.
Tejashwi Yadav said the committees that were formed earlier have been working behind the scenes and preparations were being made for the polls. He added everyone in the Opposition ranks would play their part and asserted that regional parties were very strong.
“Wherever there are regional parties, the BJP is nowhere to be seen. Most of the regional parties are with INDIA bloc,” the RJD leader said.
The key challenge before the leaders of various opposition parties, who have come together to fight the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is also to come up with an alternative common programme as a counter to the ruling dispensation.
The immediate challenge before the INDIA bloc is also to build a consensus on having a convener, a spokesperson and a common secretariat, as it is a tricky issue due to differences amongst its constituents.
The position of the Congress, which suffered a near wipeout in the Hindi heartland, has also weakened within the alliance. Equations within the INDIA bloc are set to change, as other opposition parties would challenge its position as the fulcrum of the alliance.
The recent victory of the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has also put more pressure on opposition parties to put up a united face. The parties intend to move forward with the unity theme — ‘Main Nahin, Hum’ (We, Not Me) — at the meeting as a counter to PM Modi and the BJP, a senior Congress leader told PTI.
Undeterred by the recent defeats, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said that they will move forward to take on the BJP with a positive agenda and will highlight people’s issues.
Meanwhile, plans for joint rallies by the Opposition would have to be finalised soon in the Delhi meeting as the last one scheduled to be held in Bhopal in October before the assembly polls had to be cancelled, sources said.