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In a meeting not attended by Trinamool Congress’s Mamata Banerjee, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Uddhav Thackeray, leaders of major INDIA bloc parties Saturday agreed to appoint Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as chairperson of the alliance and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the convenor pending consultations with the three senior leaders who stayed away citing preoccupation.
Interestingly, it was Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary of the CPM — Trinamool’s bitter rival in West Bengal — who proposed the names of Kharge and Kumar for leadership roles in the alliance at the virtual meeting. Yechury was backed by his CPI counterpart D Raja and others also agreed with some suggesting that Banerjee, Thackeray and Yadav should be consulted.
While sources said Akhilesh Yadav had conveyed before the meeting that he would be on board with the decisions taken by the leaders, there is apprehension on whether the West Bengal Chief Minister would agree. When contacted, a senior Trinamool Congress leader merely said “no comments.” Sources said Kumar was visibly upset when the suggestion came that the consent of those who were not present should be taken.
Senior JD(U) leader Lallan Singh, who was present in the virtual meeting, earlier told others that Kumar was not an aspirant for the convener post, a stand that the JD(U) had been articulating publicly for some time. In private, the JD(U) has been of the view that Kharge be appointed the chairperson and Kumar the convener — a North-South combination which, it feels, will send a positive signal to the people in the absence of a prime ministerial face for the bloc.
JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha later told reporters that Kumar has “not given his consent” to the proposal to make him convener. Leaders of some of the INDIA bloc parties claimed that the Trinamool Congress is not really enthusiastic about the idea of appointing Kumar as the convener.
Talking to reporters in Pune, Pawar said Kumar’s name was suggested for the post of convenor at the meeting but the Bihar Chief Minister was of the view that a team of party chiefs should be formed and that there is no need to appoint a convenor.
“Everyone unanimously agreed on the name of Kharge. All the allies wanted the chairperson to be from the Congress, the leading party in the bloc,” said a leader. Sources said Sonia Gandhi suggested that if the Congress is appointed chairperson of the bloc, then a non-Congress leader should be made the convener to send a right political message.
Sources in the JD(U) claimed Kumar suggested that the opinion of the TMC and SP on his name as convener should be taken before taking a final decision. A JD(U) leader claimed that Kumar has declined the offer and “by turning down the proposal of the convener…he has kept an option open for him. He may make some announcement during a rally on January 24.”
Among those who attended the meeting were Kharge, Sonia, Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal; Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and his party colleague Kanimozhi; RJD’s Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav; NCP’s Sharad Pawar; Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his AAP colleague Raghav Chaddha; JMM’s Hemant Soren, Yechury and D Raja. Sources said Thackeray informed the meeting that his party colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut would attend but he could not as he was traveling.
The meeting saw the Congress urging INDIA allies to join Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra which he is beginning from Imphal Sunday. Rahul told the leaders that he would write personally to all the leaders inviting them to be part of the yatra.
While Banerjee skipped the meeting, the tussle between the TMC and Congress in West Bengal was mentioned. This has reached such a pass that the Trinamool declined to participate in seat-sharing talks with the national alliance committee of the Congress, signalling that it was not willing to concede two or, at best, three seats to the Congress, an offer which the state Congress has already rejected.
Kharge later said the leaders had a fruitful discussion. “Everyone is happy that the seat-sharing talks are progressing in a positive way. We also discussed joint programmes in the coming days by INDIA parties. I, along with Rahul Gandhi, invited all INDIA parties to join Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at their convenience and use the opportunity to raise the social, political and economic issues plaguing common people of this country,” he said in a post on X.
On seat-sharing, sources said that all the parties were of the view that the exercise should be completed as soon as possible. Talking to reporters in Pune after attending the meeting, Pawar said that Kumar’s name was suggested for the post of convenor, but the latter was of the view that a team of party chiefs should be formed and that there is no need to appoint a convenor. Pawar added there was no need to project any face for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the leader can be chosen once the results are declared.
“We will select the leader after the elections and we are confident of providing an alternative. In 1977, Morarji Desai was not projected as the prime ministerial face by the opposition,” PTI quoted Pawar as having said.
“For the Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, seat-sharing was discussed and we will announce once it is finalised,” he said. The INDIA bloc meeting decided on a committee that will plan joint rallies of the allies all over the country, he said.
