New Delhi: The opposition INDIA bloc defied the ruling party’s disparaging characterisation of the coalition as a ramshackle grouping of unelectable parties with a striking poll performance — especially in the key state of Uttar Pradesh — that prevented the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from achieving a majority in the Lok Sabha on its own. The Congress led INDIA with a tally of 99 seats, followed by the Samajwadi Party (37), the Trinamool Congress (29) and others, taking the coalition’s number to 234, bringing it the closest it has been to the prospect of power in a decade, faring much better than exit poll figures on Saturday and triggering a plunge in the stock market, which had been expecting the BJP to do much better.
“The nation has clearly said they don’t want (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi,” Rahul Gandhi of the Congress said at a press conference on Tuesday evening, holding up a copy of the Indian Constitution, much as he’s done during his campaign speeches. “The country has unanimously and clearly stated that we don’t want Mr Modi and Mr Amit Shah (the home minister) being involved in running of this country. We don’t like the way they run the country and we don’t like the way they attacked the Constitution.”
Still, both he and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge were careful to say that any decision on INDIA’s strategy would only be taken after consulting other members of the coalition at a meeting scheduled for Wednesday.The opposition ran a focused campaign that contrasted sharply with that in 2019, stepping up social media engagement, counterattacking swiftly and keeping the BJP from setting the narrative.
It also emphasised issues such as joblessness and inflation in response to what it said was the BJP’s bid to create social and religious strife, while accusing it of crony capitalism.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has begun exploring political realignments for a possible non-BJP government at the Centre, said people familiar with the matter. To be sure, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has 290 seats, exceeding the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha, and will be entitled to get the first invitation to form the government from Rashtrapati Bhavan. However, members of the opposition grouping said they will try and woo Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and smaller players from the NDA fold with power-sharing offers in a bid to keep the Narendra Modi-led BJP out of power.
Naidu, who’s set to be the next Andhra Pradesh chief minister, (CM) and Kumar, CM of Bihar, have been allied with the opposition parties previously. Kumar was in fact a prime mover of the INDIA grouping, organising the first meeting in Patna on June 23, 2023, that led to its formation.
People familiar with discussions happening behind the scenes indicated that senior Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Left leaders have already reached out to Naidu, Kumar and others.
No comments:
Post a Comment