In view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi held a meeting with Bihar leaders in New Delhi on Tuesday. According to reports, party General Secretary KC Venugopal and several leaders from the state attended the meeting to chalk out the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to take place in 2024.
Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh and newly appointed state in-charge Mohan Prakash, along with leaders like Ranjeet Ranjan, and Shakeel Ahmed, were among those present in the meeting. After the meeting with Bihar Congress leaders, party chief Kharge took to X, and said that every worker of his party is ready to reach out to the people and live up to the aspirations of the people of Bihar for progress, prosperity and peace of the state.
What did Kharge say after meeting?
"The Grand Alliance government in Bihar is working firmly as per the expectations of the people of Bihar. We are committed to social justice. For the progress, prosperity and peace of Bihar, every Congress worker is ready to reach out to the people and live up to the aspirations of the people of Bihar," he said.
Though the Congress-RJD-JDU-Left alliance is in power in the state, 17 of the 40 MPs in the state are from the BJP. The Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A has announced to contest the elections jointly. However, there is continuing suspense over a seat-sharing agreement between the partners in the Opposition alliance. While the Opposition bloc partners came together for their fourth meeting in the national capital recently, the potentially thorny issue of seat-sharing was left unaddressed.
I.N.D.I.A bloc's 4th meeting
The fourth meeting of the Opposition bloc took place in the national capital and was attended by leaders from 28 parties. Congress leader KC Venugopal told reporters that the seat-sharing talks should start without delay and there is a proposal for "joint rallies" also. The meeting was held in view of escalating tensions between the government and the Opposition over the suspension of MPs during the winter session of Parliament.
The alliance, led by the Congress, took shape with the primary objective of mounting a combined challenge to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in next year's general elections. The first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. The third meeting happened in Mumbai on August 31-September 1.
Lok Sabha elections 2024
It should be noted here that general elections are expected to be held in India between April and May 2024 to elect the members of the 18th Lok Sabha. The tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha is scheduled will end in June 2024. The previous general elections were held in April–May 2019. After the elections, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance formed the government at the Centre, with Narendra Modi continuing as Prime Minister for the second straight term.
(With inputs from ANI)
