The Congress’s senior leaders and other alliance partners, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), have agreed on the proposal to pitch Nitish Kumar, chief of the Janata Dal(U) and the chief minister of Bihar, as the national convener of the Opposition’s alliance, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), according to a senior party leader.
The decision was taken following national and state level discussions among its leaders and consultations with the constituents of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance on Thursday evening. The proposal has been communicated to Kumar as well, said a senior JD(U) leader, who is close to the leader and was one of the main persons coordinating with the alliance partners. “The decision has already been taken, as a majority of the alliance partners, except one or two, have supported Nitish ji’s name as the convener. It will be announced in a day or two," said the senior JD (U) leader.
Even though it was not discussed in the meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Congress’s national alliance committee last evening, a senior Congress leader said that the issue of national convener was taken up separately in a separate meeting, and all constituents were consulted accordingly.
“We have also spoken with Nitish ji and others. If any alliance partner has any hesitation or reservation, we all can talk on a Zoom call and sort out our differences," an AICC member told News18.
AT THE FOREFRONT OF UNITING NOT-SO-FRIENDLY ALLIES
Nitish Kumar has been at the forefront in bringing all “not-so-friendly" allies together, especially in case of the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress. In fact, it was the effort by Kumar and RJD’s Lalu Yadav, which convinced Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi to join the alliance and initiate talks with the AAP, TMC and Samajwadi Party (SP).
The first letter to Sonia Gandhi was written by Kumar and Yadav in September 2022, and it was responded to by the leaders in March 2023. A seven-month long continuous perusal and exchange of hectic parleys with other regional parties continued in the meantime.
“They also agreed to the formula of “one against one" devised by Nitish. This means a bipolar fight in 450 Lok Sabha constituencies in 2024," said another senior JD (U) leader.
SEAT-SHARING NEGOTIATIONS TO BEGIN IN DELHI
Meanwhile, following the meeting between the Congress’s national alliance committee, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, the party has now got the clearance for its seat-sharing related negotiation plans across states.
Talking to News18, Salman Khurshid, former minister and member of the national alliance committee, said, “We have already reached out to nine alliance partners, which include JD(U), RJD, DMK, Shiv Sena, NCP, TMC, SP and AAP."
“We will start meeting them in Delhi in a day or two according to their convenient dates. We will start deliberations on the seat-sharing process across regions now," he added.
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