The Opposition meet was hosted by the Congress at a carefully chosen spot.
New Delhi:
Top leaders of 26 Opposition parties today gathered in Bengaluru to decide on the contours of the front that will take on the BJP next year. They agreed on a name — I-N-D-I-A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance).
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“NDA, BJP, can you challenge I.N.D.I.A.?” Mamata Banerjee said at a press conference after the meeting ended. “We love our motherland. We are the patriotic people of the country. We are for the country, the world, farmers, for all,” she said, adding that people — Hindus, Dalits, minorities, farmers, in Bengal, and Manipur — are under threat from the BJP, whose only job is “buying and selling governments”.
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Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced that the next Opposition meeting will be held in Mumbai, where an 11-member coordination committee will be set up. When asked who will lead the alliance, Mr Kharge said that a Convenor will be decided at the Mumbai meting. “These are small things,” he said.
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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi also spoke at the press conference. Several leaders were missing from the media interaction as they had to rush to the airport for their flights back home, Mr Kharge said.
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During the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had said his party wasn’t interested in power or the Prime Minister post. Taking aim at the BJP, he said the ruling party’s president and party leaders are “running from state to state” to patch up with old allies. “We are 26 parties, in government in 11 states; BJP didn’t get 303 seats by itself, used votes of allies then discarded them,” he said at the meeting.
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The leaders, who gathered in Bengaluru, had a dinner meeting last evening to formalise the agenda for Tuesday’s closed-door talks. There is a chance that Sonia Gandhi — who was the chairperson of UPA — will be named the President of the Front, and Nitish Kumar the Convenor, sources said.
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Besides Mrs Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, chief ministers MK Stalin, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Hemant Soren, Mamata Banerjee and RJD chief Lalu Prasad are among those taking part in the two-day meet. Sharad Pawar, whose party underwent a split earlier this month with the rebellion of nephew Ajit Pawar, joined the meeting today.
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The dinner meeting at the Taj West End Hotel last evening saw Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi seated next to each other. They had a one-on-one conversation earlier that lasted almost 20 minutes, delaying the beginning of the meet, sources said.
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The meet is being hosted by the Congress at a carefully chosen spot. The Congress victory in the recent Karnataka assembly election has not only galvanised the opposition, but also placed the party in a commanding position.
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Under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress has, however, kept a low profile, reiterating that it wants to hear the ideas of other leaders. Its support to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party on fighting the Central Ordinance in parliament has also projected its willingness to be a team player.
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Asked whether its former ally HD Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal Secular will attend, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera said, “All parties having the will and guts to fight the BJP are welcome”. “From 16 in Patna to 26 in Bengaluru, this opposition will grow… We will have many more meetings. Issues would be discussed now, and we will look at leaders later,” he added.
