Opposition Alliance ‘Bharat’, Opposition meeting in Mumbai, Sharad Pawar
Mumbai: Ahead of the crucial third meeting of the opposition alliance ‘Bharat’, its leaders expressed confidence that the alliance would provide a strong alternative for political change in the country and that it has many faces as its prime ministerial candidate while the BJP has ‘only one. ‘. is
The opposition coalition ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ (India) has expanded to include two more regional parties, taking the number of constituents to 28. Maharashtra’s left-wing party ‘Peasants and Workers Party of India’ (PWP) and another regional party have joined the alliance.
63 representatives from 28 political parties will attend the third meeting of the opposition alliance ‘Bharat’ to be held on August 31 and September 1 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai.
The first meeting of the alliance was held in Patna in June, while the second meeting was held in July in Bengaluru, where it was named the ‘Indian National Development Alliance’ (India).
In the third meeting, the opposition leaders will discuss a joint campaign strategy to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and resolve differences among its members.
The coalition will announce a coordination committee, which may have 11 members from the main opposition parties. A coalition logo will also be released. Many prominent opposition leaders are reaching Mumbai to participate in this meeting, including Chief Ministers of various states. These include Mamata Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Hemant Soren, MK Stalin, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann. Apart from this, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, his father Lalu Prasad, former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, Akhilesh Yadav are also involved in this.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, party president Mallikarjun Kharge are also reaching Mumbai on Thursday. Original Congress President Mamata Banerjee reached Mumbai on Wednesday. He also tied rakhi to Uddhav Thackeray and Amitabh Bachchan on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan.
“India will be our face,” he said to a question from the prime ministerial candidate of the ‘Bharat’ alliance. Our main concern is to save the country.” Addressing a press conference here, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar expressed confidence that the opposition alliance would provide a strong alternative to bring about political change. Pawar said that ‘there was no discussion on seat sharing in India. not
He said that there is no illusion about NCP. Taking a dig at his nephew Ajit Pawar, who joined the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra last month, he said, “People who left will be taught a lesson by the people.”
Asked about Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, Pawar said, “It is not known whose side she is on. “Earlier she had talks with the BJP.”
On the question of parties like AIUDF not joining the alliance, Pawar said, “They have spoken to me and are ready to join us.” But I cannot take any decision alone. We have to talk to Congress and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena about this.
He clarified that there was no proposal to involve the Akali Dal. “But if they want to come, we can think about it,” Pawar said. However, he said, “It is not easy because we have Arvind Kejriwal with us, whose party is running the government in Punjab and there. The Congress has a different policy. So, we will not do anything that will create differences.
Former chief minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray said the coalition of opposition parties with different ideologies had a common objective to protect democracy and ‘Mother India’.
On a question about the prime ministerial face from the opposition alliance ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ (India), Thackeray said, “We have many options for the prime ministerial candidate. But what other option does the BJP have other than one? Who is the convener of ‘Bharat’?” To the question that would be, Thackeray asked, “Who is the coordinator of the NDA”.
Thackeray said, “The question of the prime ministerial candidate should be asked of the BJP, which has had only one candidate for the last nine years that we have seen. The ‘Bharat’ coalition has several options for the post of Prime Minister. What options does the BJP have?
He gave a “Raksha Bandhan” gift to LPG price per cylinder by Rs. The Centre’s decision to cut 200 was also criticized. The government on Tuesday announced a reduction in the price of cooking gas used in households.
Thackeray said, “Has Rakshabandhan not happened in the last nine years? LPG cylinders will be provided free when ‘Bharat’ (coalition) moves forward. Whatever they do, people are smart and understand everything.”
When Thackeray was asked if he would be fielded as the opposition’s prime ministerial candidate, he joked, “I will go and take oath tomorrow.” Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan said that non-BJP parties got 23 crore votes in 2019, while BJP got 22 crore votes. “If we work together, we can win,” he said.
Chavan said that Maharashtra has led many revolutions in the past and this time too it will lead political change in the country. At the meeting of the opposition alliance, the leaders may announce several committees to draft a common minimum programme, formulate a joint plan for the movement across the country and discuss the distribution of seats.
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