New Delhi. In the next Lok Sabha elections, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (India), a coalition of 26 opposition parties engaged in an effort to mount a tough challenge to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), will be staked by the Congress and senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge is leading the race. Sources gave this information on Monday.
It is believed that as the largest opposition party, India’s chairperson should be from the Congress and since Sonia Gandhi does not want this post, Kharge is the contender to become the president. However, Sonia Gandhi will continue to be the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, under which all MPs including party leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan and leader in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge come.
Sources said that the names of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee have come up for the convenor. There should not be any dispute among themselves regarding any post, everything should be done unanimously, that is why time is being taken in taking the decision. It is being told that the names of the posts of President and Convener of India can be sealed in the upcoming meeting to be held in Mumbai.
In a two-day meeting in Bengaluru on July 18, the opposition parties had decided to name the alliance as ‘India’. Along with this, it was also decided that there will be a coordinator of this alliance and there will be an 11-member coordination committee. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge had said at that time that the next meeting of constituents of ‘India’ would be held in Mumbai where the convenor of the alliance and the members of the coordination committee would be selected.
Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar chief minister and top Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and some other leaders attended.
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Tags: Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Nitish kumar
FIRST PUBLISHED : July 25, 2023, 05:30 IST