INDIA bloc meeting, 1st after Cong poll defeat, on December 19: ‘Main nahi, hum’
INDIA bloc's 4th meeting was scheduled on December 6, but was deferred as several opposition leaders said they would not be able to join.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday announced that the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc, the first after Congress's defeat in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, will be held on December 19. "Judega Bharat, jeetega INDIA," the Congress leader posted amid cloud over opposition unity amid skirmish between parties. At this meeting, the opposition bloc wants to work on a theme of unity 'Main nahi, hum', a PTI report said.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and former Uttar Pradesh CM and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav indicated their inability to attend the meeting at the date scheduled earlier. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin was also managing the Cyclone Michaung situation in the state.
A section of the alliance asserted that there was no infighting but the leaders were unable to attend the meeting on December 6. However, there were adverse reactions from the regional leaders after the Congress lost Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan and failed to defeat the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee said the results were not BJP's victory but Congress's failure.
At this meeting, seat-sharing is likely to be discussed which will become a crucial issue for the INDIA bloc. There can be discussion of joint election campaign ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The last meeting of the 27 alliance partners was held in Mumbai in September in which coordination committees were set up.
The seat-sharing talks among the INDIA partners were stalled as the Congress was anticipating a good result in the three states which could have strengthened its negotiation. In those states, there was no seat-sharing agreement among the opposition parties either.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was miffed as there was no sear-sharing in Madhya Pradesh where the party contested in 69 seats. The party ended up with the worst vote share as it did not even come a close second on any of the seats. On 43 of the 69 seats that the Samajwadi Party contested, it bagged less than 1,000 votes.
