I.N.D.I.A bloc is holding another key meeting to hold seat-sharing discussions in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, to be held in April-May this year. With seat-sharing talks on the table, a key NCP leader has said that neither Nitish Kumar or Mallikarjun Kharge will be the Prime Ministerial face of the alliance.
A senior NCP leader, while talking to India TV, has made it clear that neither Bihar CM Nitish Kumar nor Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge will be the PM candidate of the alliance for the Lok Sabha elections.
The NCP leader has also said that whoever will be in the role of convenor of the INDI Alliance will neither contest the elections nor campaign. He has also said that it is certain that a big leader like Jairam Ramesh will become the convener. Decisions on who will be convener, seat-sharing, and candidates are yet to be taken.
Ahead of the meeting, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said, "We are trying that everyone should work together and all the leaders should speak in one voice. There is no benefit in talking against each other..."
"When a party distributes a ticket for one Lok Sabha constituency, 10 contenders come for that ticket. When you give ticket to one, obviously the other nine get upset. When there are two parties, obviously the number of contenders goes up... So, despite the difficulties you have to make sacrifices to save the country," said Delhi Minister and AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj on Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit's statement on AAP-Congress seat-sharing.
"When a meeting has taken place, the alliance must have been discussed. What's important is which party gets how many seats, and in which area... Our personal differences need to be kept aside... Party workers at the regional level should sit together and chalk out strategies to win and also keep personal differences aside..." Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said.
Meanwhile, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawala while hitting out at the AAP said, "... Arvind Kejriwal passed a resolution in Delhi assembly saying Rajiv Gandhi's Bharat Ratna should be taken back for 1984 riots. Has he now compromised on such an important issue?... Those who had promised under Anna Hazare that we would never compromise with Congress and we would go against corrupt parties, today they are sitting in the lap of corrupt parties... Congress leaders stick posters of Sanjay Singh, Arvind Kejriwal, and Manish Sisodia in Delhi saying they are corrupt. How much money have they got from the liquor scam because of which they're keeping quiet..."
I.N.D.I.A bloc to meet again on January 12
Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav, who attended the meeting at Congress leader Mukul Wasnik's residence said, "The meeting was held in a very positive environment. Everyone is happy. More progress will take place on January 12."
"...All of the members of Maha Vikas Aghadi came out of the meeting with a smile... Maha Vikas Aghadi members-Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP, sat down to discuss seat-sharing... I want to assure everyone that we will fight elections together. We have no differences about seat sharing... We discussed in detail about the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA)...," said Sanjay Raut.
"...There was a discussion on all the seats & everything is positive. The meeting was successful more than what was expected... there are no differences among us...," said Sharad Pawar's camp leader Dr. Jitendra Awhad.
Jeetender Ahawad, Sanjay Raut, Vinayak Raut (UBT), Salman Khurshid, Ashok Gehlot, Balasahab Thorat, Ashok Chavan, Nana Patole among others attended the meeting at Mukul Wasnik's residence.
