The coordination committee of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A alliance held its first meeting on Wednesday in New Delhi. D Raja, Javed Ali, Congress KC Venugopal and Gurdeep Singh Sappal, TR Balu and Tejaswi Yadav have attended the meeting at NCP Chief Sharad Pawar's residence to chalk out the coalition's strategies and future programmes including seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, JD(U)'s Lalan Singh and TMC's Abhishek Banerjee will not be joining the meeting.
They discussed the 'Caste census' and decided to hold a joint rally in Bhopal.
"The Coordination Committee has decided to start the process for determining seat-sharing. It was decided that member parties would hold talks and decide at the earliest. The first public meeting of the alliance will be held in Bhopal in the first week of October..," said Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal after the meeting.
"The first meeting of the coordination committee was attended by 12 member parties. The committee decided to hold joint public meetings in different parts of the country. The first public meeting will be held in Bhopal in the first week of October. We will raise the issue of rising prices, unemployment and corruption under BJP rule. The coordination committee authorised the sub-group on media to decide upon the names of the anchors on whose shows none of the INDIA parties will send the representatives," he added.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, who reached Delhi for the crucial meeting said, "The agenda will be known during the meeting...Seat sharing and what formula to be used and how new members can be brought to the alliance will be discussed..."
On TMC MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee not attending the meeting due to ED summons, Abdullah said, "Such summons are given especially to the leaders in opposition..."
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut responded to BJP BJP calling the coordination committee meeting as an anti-Hindu meeting by saying no one in this country is anti-Hindu and every religion in this country is respected.
Members of coordination committee:
- Sharad Pawar - NCP
- KC Venugopal - Congress
- Abhishek Banerjee - TMC
- TR Baalu - DMK
- Hemant Soren - JMM
- Sanjay Raut - Shiv Sena-UBT
- Tejashwi Yadav - RJD
- Raghav Chadha - AAP
- Javed Ali Khan - Samajwadi Party
- Lalan Singh - JD(U)
- D Raja - CPI
- Omar Abdullah - National Conference
- Mehbooba Mufti - PDP
- A leader of CPI-M
Seat-searing issue not to be discussed today
According to sources, there will be no discussion on seat sharing in today's meeting. The seat sharing will first be discussed by the state unit. Earlier this month, the I.N.D.I Alliance concluded their third meeting in Mumbai and adopted resolutions to collectively contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seat-sharing arrangements would be finalised as soon as possible through a spirit of give-and-take.
According to sources, the committee leaders will also discuss about holding the joint rallies as well as the functioning of the alliance. The CPM did not nominate any of its representatives to the coordination committee because the decision would be taken only after discussion in their Politburo meeting to be held this week. "We, the I.N.D.I.A 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," said the resolution.
Abhishek Banerjee summoned by ED
On Sunday, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, a member of the coordination committee, claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has served a summon on him to appear before it on September 13, the day of the meeting. "FIRST meet of INDIA's coordination committee is on 13th Sept in Delhi, where I'm a member. But, ED conveniently served me a notice just now to appear before them on the very same day! One can't help but marvel at the timidity and vacuousness of the 56-inch chest model (sic)," Banerjee posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Sanjay Raut's statement on meeting
Speaking to the news agency ANI, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that the agenda decided in the Mumbai meeting will be taken up in the meeting. "Today we will go to the meeting... The agenda decided in the Mumbai meeting will be discussed. Everybody is going to attend the meeting except TMC. TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee is a member of this committee, he is not attending this meeting because the ED and the BJP don't want him to. The central government does not want Abhishek Banerjee to reach Delhi and participate in the coordination committee meeting of INDIA. He got summoned by the ED today... We will keep his seat vacant and give a message about how the central agencies are torturing the members of INDIA...(sic)," he added.
Objective of I.N.D.I.A allaince
It should be mentioned here that as many as 28 Opposition parties have formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In its last meeting, the alliance adopted a resolution to this effect and said its theme for the elections will be "Judega Bharat, Jeetega India, (India will unite, India will win)." It should be mentioned here that 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 was held in Mumbai from August 31-September 1. According to sources, the next meeting of the alliance is likely to be conducted in Delhi.
(With inputs from agencies)
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