‘I-N-D-I-A’ name finalised for 26-party Opposition coalition
Bengaluru: The Opposition alliance that will take on the ruling NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and an 11-member committee will be set up for coordination, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced on Tuesday.
Addressing a joint press conference after a meeting of 26 opposition parties in Bengaluru, Kharge said: “This was a very important meeting to save democracy and the Constitution in the interest of the people of the country.”
“We have come together and discussed various points. With one voice, people supported the resolution adopted today,” he said.
“Our alliance will be called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA),” Kharge said.
He said an 11-member coordination committee will be set up and its composition will be finalised in the next meeting in Mumbai. The dates for the Mumbai meeting will be announced soon.
Kharge said a common secretariat will also be set up for campaign management in Delhi and specific committees will be formed for separate issues. He said a joint statement has been approved at the meeting.
Kharge also launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he is now trying to bring together parties that had splintered which shows that “he is afraid of opposition parties”.
“There are some differences between us but we have put that behind... We are together in the interest of the country,” Kharge said. “We’ll fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly and succeed,” he said.
In her remarks at the presser, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while acknowledging all leaders present referred to Rahul Gandhi as “our favourite”.
The only job the regime at the Centre does today is to buy and sell governments, she alleged.
“INDIA will win, our country will win and BJP will lose,” Banerjee said.
Top leaders of 26 Opposition parties held extensive deliberations in Bengaluru for finalising a united strategy to take on the ruling NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Gandhi said the fight was not between the Opposition parties and the BJP, but it was “fight for the idea of India that was being attacked”.
“That is why this name was chosen. Fight is between NDA and INDIA, between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and INDIA, between their (the BJP’s) ideology and INDIA. You know what happens when someone stands against India, who wins,” the former Congress chief said.
“We (Opposition parties) are defending the Indian Constitution, voice of the people and the idea of our great country. You know what happens to those who fight the idea of India. This is the fight between the idea of India and the BJP,” Gandhi said.
Asked about who would be the face of the alliance, Kharge did not give a direct answer and said the coordination committee and a convener will also be named.
Kharge also referred to his remarks at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s birthday in March this year in which he had indicated that the question of a PM candidate was “not the question” and all like-minded parties must come together in the fight “against divisive forces”. “I had already told in Chennai on Stalin’s birthday that Congress is not interested in power or the post of Prime Minister. Our intention in this meeting is not to gain power for ourselves. It is to protect our Constitution, democracy, secularism and social justice,” Kharge said at the meeting, according to sources.
In his remarks at the presser, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said Prime Minister Modi got the opportunity to do a lot for the country in nine years, but no development has happened in any sector.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said there can be differences in ideology but the country is the most important.
Taking a swipe at the BJP, he said some people saying “we are fighting for family”, they should know that “the country is our family and we are fighting for our country”.
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party chief asserted that the Opposition parties’ fight is not against a person but against “dictatorship”.
“People are feeling afraid as to what will happen, we want to say to them that there was a movie ‘Main Hoon Na’, so they should not worry, ‘Hum hain na’,” he said.
One person and one party is not the country, Thackeray said.
Top Opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Kharge, chief ministers of West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra along with presidents and leaders of several parties attended the meeting.
