‘Indi Zero’ Alliance Now Forms, Says Piyush Goyal, As Its Constituents Fight

On Sunday, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the opposition coalition, had started to fall apart and had now become “INDI zero”.

Goyal brought up the fight over seat sharing in the Assembly elections between Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who claimed that the Congress was more focused on polling than charting the path for the INDIA bloc.

Even before it is formally created, the opposition coalition has begun to integrate. The parties involved are matched against one another in state assembly elections. “It has now become the ‘INDI zero’ alliance,” Goyal said at a news conference while touring MPs who were headed for elections.

“Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of Bihar, is depressed about the alliance’s situation. The Congress is abused by the Aam Aadmi Party. The alliance’s elements are engaged in combat in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka,” he said.

More than twenty-five parties, including the Congress and Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), are members of the INDIA coalition that opposes the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Referred to as a “mismatched pair,” Goyal accused Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh and MP Congress president Kamal Nath of being at odds with one another and focused on propelling their kids into the political sphere.

“Kamal Nath has already lost his credibility among the masses and is now left alone in Congress politics,” Goyal said.

Goyal said, “We have the blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” in response to the BJP’s failure to nominate chief ministerial candidates for the five states holding assembly elections. Under him, all of us are generals. The Congress has failed because it lacks a popular leader who can connect with the general public.”

Goyal addressed the growing cost of onions by stating that the Center has raised the buffer stock of the essential culinary ingredient from two lakh tonnes to five lakh tonnes due to erratic rainfall in various regions of the nation. Subsequently, a consignment of two lakh tonnes was added when making further purchases.

“The Central government is now offering onions to retail customers at a price of Rs 25 per kg from its buffer stock for the first time since Independence. Onion prices have stabilized as a result in many areas,” he added.

When onions planted late in the Kharif season reach the markets in the next one to two weeks, according to the Union minister for consumer affairs, food, and public distribution, prices would decrease.