I.N.D.I.A. bloc meeting: Seat sharing topped the agenda of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A bloc) meeting which took place in Delhi today. Many leaders who attended the meeting expressed that seat sharing should be finalised before January 1. The meeting was held at the Ashoka Hotel in the national capital.
According to reports, no extensive discussions took place on who would be the Prime Ministerial face for the alliance, however, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal proposed Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge's name.
Later, addressing the media, Mallikarjun Kharge when asked to respond on Mamata proposing his name for the PM face, said that their focus should be on winning elections first, the PM face can be discussed later.
Kharge on seat-sharing in Punjab, Delhi, other states
The Congress president said seat-sharing talks will be held at the state level, and if any issues arise, I.N.D.I.A. bloc leadership will address them. "Whether Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Bihar, UP, Delhi or Punjab, the issues on seat sharing will be resolved," he said.
CPI(M) on EVM issue
Speaking on the EVM issue, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said, "Yes, it (EVM issue) was discussed. A proposal was passed... We will raise the matter before EC..."
"It was a very successful, fruitful meeting. Everybody opened their mind and spoke, there was a little criticism here and there because we are 25-26 parties. The main focus was to finalise the seat sharing. A lot many things were discussed but everything can not be decided today itself. Seat-sharing discussions should be started immediately, that is what was discussed..." said Congress MP and General Secretary KC Venugopal.
Attending the latest I.N.D.I.A. bloc meeting in Delhi, Uddhav Thackeray said that there are 27 horses but no charioteer.'
Mamata Banerjee said that Congress has won two seats but they are ready to talk with them on seat sharing. On the Left parties, Mamata said that they seem to be with the BJP but they (I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties) will remain open.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress feels that an attempt should be made to take BSP along.
On Kerala, I.N.D.I.A. bloc view is that there is no BJP here so the direct contest is between Congress and Left.
Meanwhile, attending the meeting, Sudeep Bandopadhyay said that if they field one candidate on at least 70 percent of seats then they can win.
The bloc’s last meeting was held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1. Several members of the bloc said the seat-sharing formula should have been resolved much earlier and it is already too late.
Who all attended I.N.D.I.A. bloc's fourth meeting
- 1. Mamta Banerjee - TMC
- 2. MK Stalin - DMK
- 3. Nitish Kumar - JDU
- 4. Lalu Prasad - RJD
- 5. Uddhav Thackeray - Shiv Sena (UBT)
- 6. Farooq Abdullah - NC
- 7. Mehbooba Mufti - PDP
- 8. Arvind Kejriwal - AAP
- 9. Hemant Soren - JMM
- 10. Sharad Pawar - NCP
- 11. Akhilesh Yadav - SP
- 12. Jayant Singh - RLD
- 13. Sitaram Yechury - CPIM
- 14. D Raja - CPI
- 15. Krishna Patel - ADK
- 16. G Devarajan - AIFB
- 17. Vaiko - MDMK
- 18. Thol Thirumaavalavan - VCK
- 19. ER Eswaran - KMDK
- 20. NK Premchandran - RSP
- 21. Dipankar Bhattacharyya - CPIML
- 22. MH Jawahirullah - MMK
- 23. Kader Mohideen - IUML
- 24. Jose K Mani - KCM
- 25. PC Thomas - KCJ
- 26. Jayant Patil - PWPI
Earlier, the alliance's proposed meeting on December 6 was postponed after several top leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, expressed inability to attend.
What Mamata said on I.N.D.I.A. bloc's PM face on Monday?
Mamata Banerjee said the prime ministerial candidate of the alliance will be decided after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, emphasising that all issues, including seat sharing, will be ironed out by the alliance partners to defeat the BJP.
Kejriwal meets Mamata, Uddhav Thackeray ahead of I.N.D.I.A. bloc meeting
A day before I.N.D.I.A bloc's meeting in Delhi, AAP national convener Kejriwal met Banerjee and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday.
Kejriwal did not comment on the discussions at the around 45-minute meeting at the South Avenue residence of TMC MP and Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
Kejriwal later also met Uddhav Thackeray and other Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, including Aditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut and Priyanka Chaturvedi, at his residence.
Sources said Kejriwal will attend the meeting of the alliance on Tuesday. However, Kejriwal is also scheduled to go to an undisclosed place to attend a 10-day Vipassana meditation course from Tuesday.
Bloc has many clean leaders, including Nitish: Dipankar Bhattacharya
CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya asserted that the I.N.D.I.A coalition, of which his party is a part, has plenty of leaders with a "clean image", including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Bhattacharya, who is likely to attend the coalition's meeting in Delhi on Tuesday, spoke to journalists here on the sidelines of a public meeting organised by his party.
"Nitish Kumar has always said that he does not want anything for himself. Yet, if a decision is taken to assign him some key responsibility, we have no problem," said the Left leader.
He added, "If there is a consensus on some other leader, we will still have no problem. Our aim is to oust the BJP from power. The I.N.D.I.A bloc has plenty of leaders with clean image and competence. Of course, Nitish is among them."
With PTI inputs
ALSO READ | Mamata, Kejriwal proposed Mallikarjun Kharge's name for I.N.D.I.A. bloc's PM candidate: Sources
