INDIA Bloc Meeting Today: The party leaders believe that the Narendra Modi government has gained attention of the women and youth voters, and hence alternative vision needs to be presented for Lok Sabha elections.
Let us see the results, and then we’ll decided the “face”, said Mamata Banerjee after TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh vouched for the West Bengal chief minister as INDIA alliance’s prime ministerial candidate for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This comes hours before the bloc’s meeting scheduled to be held at New Delhi’s Ashoka Hotel around 3pm.
All Opposition alliance leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Nitish Kumar and MK Stalin, will be part of the gathering. The focus of the meeting is to fast track the seat sharing talks ahead of 2024 elections.
Apart from seat sharing, another focus will be on “changing focus to other key topics”. The party leaders believe that the Narendra Modi government has gained attention of the women and youth voters, and hence alternative vision needs to be presented for Lok Sabha elections.
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AGENDA FOR INDIA BLOC MEETING
• Sources told News18 that Congress may be asked to accommodate allies, especially given the war of words between the Samajwadi Party and the Mallikarjun Kharge-led party during Madhya Pradesh polls.
• Parliament security breach and suspensions will be another important point of discussion amid plans by Opposition leaders to hold big agitations and protest even after the winter session is over.
• Sources said some parties plan to raise an alert and caution leaders not to make controversial comments, which may lead to falling in trap of the Bharatiya Janata Party, like the controversy over ‘Sanatan Dharma‘.
• ‘Misuse’ of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) will also be raised, even as Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has been summoned by ED on December 21.
• The main agenda, however, will be “big and concrete step” toward seat-sharing for 2024 polls.
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INDIA BLOC MEET COMES AMID REDUCED STRENGTH IN PARLIAMENT
Opposition INDIA bloc lost almost half its strength in Rajya Sabha and one-third in Lok Sabha as 78 MPs in total were suspended on Monday for unruly behaviour and disregarding the directions of the Chair.
The INDIA bloc has 95 MPs in Rajya Sabha of which 45 were suspended on Monday. Their another MP, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, is behind bars in the Delhi liquor policy case and stands already suspended.
In the Lok Sabha on the other hand, the opposition bloc has a total strength of 133 MPs of whom 46, or around on-third, stand suspended. The 46 include 33 suspended on Monday and 13 earlier.
After the suspension of most of their leaders, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge will now have to spearhead the alliance’s attack in Rajya Sabha and Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha.
NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPI-M’s floor leader Elamaram Kareem and DMK floor leader Tiruchi Siva will also have to lead the opposition charge along with Kharge in the upper house, as others stand suspended.
Among the floor leaders suspended in Rajya Sabha are TMC’s Derek O’Brien and deputy leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray; RJD floor leader Manoj Kumar Jha; Samajwadi Party’s leader in the house Ram Gopal Yadav; JDU floor leader Ram Nath Thakur; JMM leader Mahua Maji; Kerala Congress (M) floor leader Jose K Mani and CPI leader in house Binoy Viswam.
Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi have been suspended and so are their chief whip K Suresh and whip Manickam Tagore.
Congress whip in lower house Ravneet Singh Bittu and leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari will have to lead the opposition party’s charge now in the absence of other leaders.
The suspension triggered a political slugfest with opposition members terming the action “murder of democracy” and BJP leader and union minister Piyush Goyal claiming that the action was necessary as the opposition MPs insulted the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman.
OTHER INDIA ALLIANCE-RELATED UPDATES
• Meanwhile, posters have come up in Bihar’s Patna with the message for INDIA alliance: If you really want to win, you need to make one decision. And that decision should be Nitish Kumar.
