Most INDIA leaders giving Kharge meet a miss, Congress forced to defer bloc huddle

Even while the counting of votes for the Assembly elections were underway Sunday, the Congress had let it known that it had convened a meeting of the INDIA bloc on December 6. The news took many leaders of the alliance by surprise since they had no information about the meeting.

Citing prior commitments, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said Monday she was not in a position to attend the meeting. “I was not aware of the meeting date on December 6. Had I known about the meeting date beforehand, then I could have rescheduled my visit,” she said. On Tuesday, sources in the JD(U) said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too was likely to skip the meeting as he had viral fever. They said JD(U) national president Lalan Singh and state minister Sanjay Kumar Jha may represent the party.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge meets other Opposition leaders at his chamber in Parliament House, Tuesday. (PTI)

Separately, the SP said its chief Akhilesh Yadav had no plans to attend the meeting. A spokesperson for the SP said party leader Ram Gopal Yadav or any other leader authorised by the national president would go for the meeting.

DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had already conveyed to the Congress leadership that he would not attend the meeting as his government was engaged in coordinating relief efforts in the wake of Cyclone Michaung.

Sensing the mood of its partners, an embarrassed Congress scaled down the meeting to a gathering of floor leaders in Parliament. It said the meeting of heads of parties would now be held in the third week of December. Instead, a meeting of floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will take place at Kharge’s residence on December 6.

Gurdeep Sappal, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and coordinator of the Congress president’s office, said on X: “A coordination meeting of parliamentary party leaders of INDIA alliance will be held at 6 pm on December 6 at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.” “Thereafter, a meeting of party presidents/heads of the INDIA alliance will be scheduled in the third week of December at a date convenient to all,” Sappal, who is also a member of the campaign committee of the alliance, said.

Most of the leading parties of the INDIA alliance, especially the TMC, AAP and the JD(U) are upset with the Congress for stalling the activities of the INDIA bloc, including seat-sharing talks, citing the Assembly elections.

Most of them believe the INDIA bloc lost the political momentum it had gained after its formation and back-to-back meetings in Patna, Bengaluru and Mumbai because of the break.

As the Congress grappled with the problem, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh, former Chief Ministers both, added to the discomfiture by laying the blame for the party’s defeat in Madhya Pradesh on EVMs.

“Some MLAs told me that they got only 50 votes in their villages. How can this be possible? Whoever knew the result in advance must have got an exit poll done. The exit poll was to create an atmosphere,” Nath told reporters after a review meeting at the Congress headquarters in Bhopal.

Singh said, “I have never had trust in EVMs since 2003. We press the button and we don’t know where the vote went.”

Five-term MLA Sajjan Singh Verma, who lost from Sonkatch seat, told The Indian Express, “During our discussion today, it emerged that the EVM battery backups were at 99 per cent. This is impossible, how can they be at 99 per cent during the day of results after being used extensively during voting? This is impossible, they were used for 11 hours and kept in strong rooms. Even Tesla, whose electric cars don’t run for long, would be stunned by this. We were ahead in postal ballots, there has been some mischief.”

Verma said Nath had assured the Congress candidates that the party was going to back them. Congress leader Vikram Bhuria, son of former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria, alleged that there was “misuse of the police, violation of model code of conduct, and EVM tampering”.

“Kamal Nath has told us straight away to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections. There has been manipulation and not magic of the BJP… Money was used to influence elections. Ladli Behna money was given days before the elections, along with the Kisan Samman Nidhi money,” he said.

Singh and Nath pointed to EVMs even as the Congress was pointing out that the party had bagged about 40 per cent votes in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh though the three states were lost to the BJP.

“It is true that the performance of the Indian National Congress in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan was disappointing and far below our own expectations. But the vote shares tell a story of a Congress that is not very behind the BJP – in fact, it is within striking distance. This is the reason for hope and revival,” Congress communication department head Jairam Ramesh said Monday.

He said while the BJP bagged 46.3 per cent votes in Chhattisgarh, the Congress got 42.2 per cent. In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP got 48.6 per cent votes while the Congress got 40.4 per cent. In Rajasthan, he said the Congress got 39.5 per cent votes as against the BJP’s 41.7 per cent.

While Nath and Singh’s comments may have been ill-timed, coming as it does days after the Assembly election defeat, the Congress had been skeptical of EVMs for long. The party had in 2018 passed a resolution seeking a return to the paper ballot system.

While the Congress officially did not comment, not everyone in the party was in agreement with the EVM-tampering conspiracy theory. “My personal opinion on EVMs remains unchanged. I have full confidence in EVMs. I know that many of my party colleagues have a different opinion, but I have always been very confident about EVMs,” Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said.