In a major development, Janata Dal-United (JDU) supremo and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reportedly rejected the proposal to become INDIA Alliance’s convenor. Reports say that Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge has been selected as the Convenor of the opposition bloc.
During a media interaction today in Delhi, (JDU) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha said, “The CM (Nitish Kumar) wanted the INDIA alliance convenor should be from Congress only.”
#WATCH | "The CM (Nitish Kumar) wanted that INDIA alliance convenor should be from Congress only," says JD(U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/QGsh3tU0Pe
— ANI (@ANI) January 13, 2024
On Saturday, leaders of the INDI Alliance held a virtual meeting to address issues such as participation in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, seat-sharing agendas, and other issues.
Notably, Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal Chief Minister as well as Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray reportedly did not attend the meeting. The conference was attended by NCP leader Sharad Pawar, DMK leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin.
Meanwhile, parallel meetings are on with the Congress’ alliance committee taking the lead in consulting with various parties of the INDIA bloc on state-level alliances. On Friday there was a meeting of Congress and Aam Aadmi Party leaders on Friday evening regarding seat sharing. The meeting lasted for about two hours at Mukul Wasnik’s house, and the leaders of both parties described the meeting as a positive move, as per sources. On Saturday the Congress alliance committee is meeting leaders from Jharkhand to continue efforts to stitch up the alliance.
As the Lok Sabha elections draw near, India’s political landscape is undergoing a significant reshuffling. The emerging INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) consortium is gearing up to challenge the established National Democratic Alliance, setting the stage for an electoral showdown.
Earlier in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA won 353 seats, the UPA stood at 91, and Others won 98. The voting was staggered in seven phases between April 11 and May 19, in which around 67 per cent of the nearly 900 million eligible people exercised their franchise to elect 542 members of the Lok Sabha.
Ahead of the opposition bloc’s virtual meeting, speculations were made that Nitish Kumar would most likely become the convenor, however, the JDU leader refused the proposal. Interestingly, Nitish Kumar has reportedly been upset with the INDI Alliance ever since Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s name was brought up as the alliance’s prime ministerial candidate for the coming Lok Sabha election.
It was reported that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also reached out to Nitish in December last year amid media reports that the latter was miffed when the alliance didn’t declare him as the bloc’s PM candidate in the fourth meeting held in Delhi.
It was reported that several alliance partners within the opposition bloc, particularly the RJD and JD(U) – the ruling parties in Bihar were upset when Mallikarjun Kharge’s name came up as the alliance’s appropriate pick for Prime Minister. Former JDU president Lalan Singh’s unceremonious ouster as the party chief hinted the same although Singh did not openly say anything about it. There were rumours that JDU might move back to the NDA fold, however, the party refuted the same.
(With inputs from ANI)
