Will fight Lok Sabha elections together 'as far as possible': INDIA passes resolution : The Tribune India

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Will fight Lok Sabha elections together 'as far as possible': INDIA passes resolution

Leaders of INDIA, a group representing opposition parties, pose for a photograph ahead of their meeting in Mumbai on Friday. PTI

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, September 1

Sending out a message of unity, the opposition’s INDIA bloc on Friday resolved to join hands to challenge the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It said seat-sharing arrangements in states would be initiated at the earliest with the spirit of “give and take”.

14-member Coordination panel
The opposition bloc leaders set up a 14-member coordination committee, which will also double up as the election strategy committee and will act as the top decision-making body.
Caste census divides oppn bloc
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee opposed Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and RJD supremo Lalu Yadav, who wanted the caste census demand to be included in the resolution.

Sources said the opposition parties had set the deadline of September 30 for working out the seat-sharing arrangements. Passing a resolution on the concluding day of the two-day meeting in Mumbai, the alliance stated, “We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give and take.”

No growth vision: BJP
There was no vision for the development of India, no roadmap for uplift of poor. (INDIA) meeting didn’t even acknowledge threat due to terrorism.
Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP

“We resolve to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance…. We resolve to coordinate our respective communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme ‘Judega Bharat, Jeetega India’ in different languages,” the resolution added. Amid speculation of early polls and the formation of a panel to explore the possibility of “one nation, one election”, the opposition bloc leaders today also set up a 14-member coordination committee which will also double up as the election strategy committee and will act as the top decision-making body.

KC Venugopal (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena-UBT), Tejasvi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chaddha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lallan Singh (JD-U), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) are 13 of the 14 members of the coordination committee. The CPI (M) is yet to nominate its representative for the committee.

A campaign committee and working groups for social media were also announced today. These bodies will work under the supervision of the coordination committee.

Later, addressing a press conference, Congress leader and former party president Rahul Gandhi said the meetings had forged a strong bond among the alliance partners.

“I can say with confidence that these meetings have made a huge contribution to building rapport among the leaders. I can see that there is flexibility among all leaders in the way we are approaching things. There are differences, but I am impressed to see how these differences are being minimised and ironed out,” Rahul Gandhi said.

The Mumbai conference was the third meeting of the opposition parties. It was preceded by two meetings, one held in Patna and the other Bengaluru.

“There will be powerful forces that will try to create fissures in INDIA because this alliance will bring down the Modi government. There is no tussle between anyone in INDIA,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said.

The RJD’s Laloo Yadav appealed to parties to be ready for “sacrifice” in the larger interest of defeating the BJP. Congress president Kharge said the date and venue of the next meeting of the alliance would be announced soon.

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