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Read below: Trinamool welcomes Kharge’s appointment as INDIA bloc chairperson
NEW DELHI — INDIA bloc has approved Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of opposition parties during a virtual meeting on Saturday.
However, INDIA bloc is yet to officially announce Kharge’s name.
Sources said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was the contender for the post of convener of INDIA bloc. However, during the meeting, he said that someone from Congress should assume the charge.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi, senior leader K.C. Venugopal; Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with Lalan Singh and Sanjay Jha; former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah; RJD President and Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav; NCP Chief Sharad Pawar; Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal; Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin besides other leaders participated in the virtual meeting.
“Appointing a chairperson is just a first step only. There are many challenges ahead for the INDIA bloc. Even several parties of India bloc itself believe that one of the major challenges is the sheet sharing,” political experts said.
They said that it might be tough for the alliance partners to negotiate the sheet sharing formula in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar.
There have also been two meetings of the INDIA bloc to discuss the Delhi and Punjab seat sharing arrangement with both parties saying that the talks are going in the right direction.
However, sources said that there are some contentious issues between the two political parties. Congress wants four seats in Delhi and seven seats in Punjab, but AAP is not ready to comply. In both Delhi and Punjab, the ruling party wants the bigger share of seats. Besides, AAP also wants to contest in Goa, Haryana and Gujarat under the sheet sharing formula.
INDIA bloc is a group of opposition parties, including the Congress. The parties have come together to take on the NDA, which is led by the BJP, and to prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
KOLKATA — Trinamool Congress has welcomed the decision to appoint Mallikarjun Kharge as the Chairperson of INDIA bloc, a decision which was taken during the virtual meeting of the opposition parties on Saturday.
“This is what Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said before. There was point in stirring up the matter for such a long time," the Trinamool Congress Spokesman Kunal Ghosh said.
Trinamool did not attend the virtual meeting as it was having reservations in having the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as the convener of INDIA bloc.
However, after Nitish Kumar’s refusal to accept the chair, it paved way for Kharge to become the chairperson.
Meanwhile, the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur, who arrived in Kolkata on Saturday, ridiculed the virtual meeting of the INDIA bloc. He said that they (INDIA bloc) neither have any proper leader to lead nor has it any policy for the country.
“In West Bengal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is saying something while Mamata Banerjee is saying completely opposite. How will this bloc survive with such egos?” Thakur questioned.
West Bengal Congress President Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that such comments are reflections of fear which the INDIA bloc has created in the BJP camp.