Kharge to head INDIA bloc, Nitish offered convener role

The constituents of the INDIA bloc have accepted Mallikarjun Kharge as chairperson of the opposition grouping, but are divided over the appointment of Nitish Kumar as convener. Mamata Banerjee's opposition to Kumar's candidature has caused tensions within the alliance.

All constituents of the INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc accepted Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge as chairperson of the opposition grouping while most of them, except Trinamool Congress (TMC), backed Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as convener during a virtual meeting held on Saturday, people familiar with the details said.

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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s opposition to Kumar’s candidature led the alliance partners to keep the decisions under wraps for now, said two leaders present during the deliberations. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar have been asked to convince Banerjee to give her approval to the decision, the leaders said, seeking anonymity.

Kumar in the meeting said he did not aspire for the post of convener, but all members except Trinamool were keen that he take it up. Representatives of the Janata Dal (United), which included Rajiv Ranjan, the party’s former president also known as Lalan Singh, were upset with Banerjee’s opposition coming out in the open.

“Please discuss this with Kharge. Only he is authorised to speak,’’ Singh told HT after the meeting.

Later in the evening, there was a separate in-person meeting at Kharge’s residence between the Congress president and Kejriwal. Both sides remained tight-lipped about what transpired but when asked Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said, “it was just a courtesy meeting.” A third person said the reason for the meeting was that Gandhi and Kejriwal had not met in person before. “They had met on various occasions but it was the first time Delhi CM called on him. Coming a day after AAP’s bilateral meeting with party representatives, it was an indicator of the growing willingness to work together and work out a relationship,” this person said.

The virtual meeting began with discussions on contentious states where the Congress has local units opposed to a larger alliance, which include Punjab, West Bengal and Kerala. Banerjee did not attend the meeting as she said that she needed to be informed sooner, instead of just 16 hours before a scheduled meeting, one of the people cited above said.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, whose team had travelled to Delhi the previous day, also stayed away. Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin told the meeting that he needed time till Pongal, after which seat-sharing in his state could be sorted out.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi informed the alliance partners that he was starting his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Sunday and wanted all the other parties to participate.

After the seat-sharing niggles were discussed, the issue of appointing a chairperson and convener came up, when Kharge’s name was proposed for the first position, as the Congress is the largest party in the coalition. Kharge proposed Gandhi’s name as chairperson but Gandhi said Kharge was the better man for the job, said one of the leaders cited earlier.

However, differences arose on the convener’s position. As Kumar expressed his reservations, other members discussed whether the announcement should be made immediately. It was then pointed out that it would not be appropriate as both Banerjee and Yadav were absent and their approvals were essential.

At this point, members were told that Gandhi had already told Banerjee about Kumar’s candidature and she was not in agreement. Kumar and Singh were present when this was discussed, the leader said. Other members of the bloc suggested roping in Kejriwal and Pawar to bring Banerjee on board while stressing that everyone else was on the same page.

An angry Singh told the meeting that the JD(U) was opposed to this appointment and so the Congress should choose someone else. One person suggested that the announcement on Saturday could be limited to just Kharge’s appointment, which was considered unsuitable. It was then decided that Kumar’s allies in Bihar, Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, would convince Kumar to accept the post of convener.

In Kolkata, a senior Trinamool leader too confirmed Banerjee’s position on the issue. “Only Mamata Banerjee will speak on this INDIA alliance issue. But if I am correct, she has already cleared the party’s stand on the proposal of making Nitish Kumar the convener with other members of the alliance,” this person said, adding that it “is not always rational to bring each and every of these processes out in the open and discuss them”.

Former TMC MP and senior party leader Kunal Ghosh, however, said there is ongoing engagement on the top roles. “Mamata Banerjee received the invitation at the last moment. She already had something scheduled. The primary issue is whether there is communication between allies or not. There is communication.”

In Patna, JD(U) leaders, who asked not to be named, said there was some unease in how the matter was discussed but in public statements, the party indicated there was no rift per se.

“Our leader’s agenda is not to become a convener. We have only one agenda, remove BJP and save the country. INDIA alliance has taken a big shape, due to which the BJP is feeling uneasy,” said JD(U) state president Umesh Kushwaha said.

A second leader, who asked not to be named, said Kumar would make “some decision” regarding the issue soon. “He may announce some decision between January 24 (Karpoori Jayanti) and January 27 before PM’s visit,” said this JD(U) functionary.

The members agreed that they would inform each other of the outcomes of these two assignments, which included getting Kumar to accept the convener’s position and getting Banerjee to accept him, the leaders cited in the first instance said.

When asked about this task for Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha of the Aam Aadmi Party, who is also the coordinator in the INDIA alliance, said, “We will inform you when there is something to be shared.’’

“Everyone is happy that the seat sharing talks are progressing in a positive way. We also discussed about joint programs in the coming days by INDIA Parties. I, along with @RahulGandhi ji invited all INDIA Parties to join ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ at their convenience and use the opportunity to raise the social, political and economic issues plaguing common people of this country,” Kharge posted on X (formerly Twiiter), without referring to the contentious issues.

(With inputs from Joydeep Thakur in Kolkata and Vijay Swaroop in Patna)