NEW DELHI, Dec 19
Amid reports that Mallikarjun Kharge’s name was proposed as the Opposition’s face for Prime Minister for the Lok Sabha elections next year, the Congress president said the opposition will first unite to bring majority, even as he neither confirmed nor denied about the proposal.
The proposal was reportedly made at a crucial meeting of the opposition INDIA bloc held in the national capital on Tuesday, where top leaders discussed the way forward, including seat-sharing, for taking on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Senior leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, CPP Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi were present at the meeting of INDIA alliance in Delhi. Besides, Mamata, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar were also in attendance. The opposition leaders were stated to be deliberating on a blueprint for a joint campaign, seat-sharing arrangement and redrawing their strategy after the Congress suffered a setback in the recent assembly polls, where BJP won in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
This is the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc leaders. The alliance had held its first meeting in Patna on June 23, the second meeting in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18, and the third in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1. Earlier, Mamata Banerjee had expressed confidence that the members of the alliance would iron out all differences, including on the issue of seat sharing.
She told reporters in New Delhi that a three-way alliance was “very much possible” in West Bengal between the TMC, the Congress, and the Left.
