Following Nitish Kumar’s rejection, Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge was named the INDIA Bloc’s chairperson
Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge has been chosen as the opposition bloc INDIA’s chairman at today’s virtual meeting, after months of deliberations and conjecture, according to news agency PTI. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was also vying for the job, said at the meeting today that someone from the Congress should take on the leadership post, even if an official decision from the INDIA bloc is still awaited.
“The CM (Nitish Kumar) wanted the INDIA alliance convenor should be from Congress only,” claimed JD(U) leader Sanjay Kumar Jha.
A coalition of opposition parties, including the Congress, called the “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance” (INDIA) has gathered to plan how to take on the government National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Despite coming together to oppose the BJP, the INDIA group has experienced division on a number of issues. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is not prepared to split seats in West Bengal. Members of the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool Congress did not attend today’s meeting.
With the Congress refusing to share seats in the assembly elections, there is clearly a lack of conciliatory attitude on the part of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav’s criticism of the Congress followed state party chairman Kamal Nath’s public disagreements with the central leadership on seat-sharing pledges. The severe setback of the Congress in three crucial states and the resignation of Kamal Nath from the leadership position exacerbated this internal strife.
Congress felt some comfort when the AAP agreed to attend the conference. Earlier, AAP did not want to share seats in Delhi or Punjab, but Raghav Chadda indicated that negotiations are underway on seat-sharing in Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana.
