MUMBAI: Senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge, six chief ministers from opposition-ruled states and prominent leaders of 26 opposition parties in all will participate in the third two-day meeting of the INDIA bloc scheduled to be held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.
MPCC president Nana Patole said Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren will be part of the conclave. Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav will also attend.
In addition, NCP president Sharad Pawar, UBT Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, RJD president Lalu Yadav and other heads of opposition parties will join the deliberations. “The logo of the INDIA alliance will be released on August 31 in the presence of all these leaders,” Patole said.
A senior Congress leader said chief ministers of Congress-ruled states Rajasthan, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh may not participate in view of restrictions on the number of attendees per party. “We have restricted the number of persons per party to three, so it may not be possible to accommodate chief ministers of Congress-ruled states,” the leader said.
Patole said that during the freedom movement, the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, had asked the British to ‘Quit India’ from the land of Mumbai, and now INDIA will give a call to the BJP to quit. “It will be a historic conclave; we expect even a section of NDA’s constituents to join the INDIA alliance. In our opinion, the people of India are tired of PM Narendra Modi’s rule and are looking for a change. There is a steady decline in his (Modi’s) popularity. Under such circumstances, we feel that while the BJP does not have a new face, INDIA will be able to provide a new leader to the nation. INDIA will take a decision on the new leader at an appropriate time, but we feel Rahul Gandhi will be the best choice,” Patole said.
On Ajit Pawar’s rebellion, Patole said that along with Ajit, several NCP legislators have joined hands with Devendra Fadnavis not for development but out of fear of coercive action by the ED and the income-tax department. “This has been made clear by none other than Sharad Pawar himself. These people were in power for the past several years but failed to take steps for development,” Patole said.
Uddhav Thackeray had, at that meeting, hit out at PM Narendra Modi for his “for the family” comment aimed at the opposition front’s attempt to unite anti-BJP parties. Uddhav had said that the country was their family and they were fighting for it.
He had also said that that people should have no reason to fear as opposition parties were there to fight for them. “There was a film called ‘Main hoon na.’ Just like that, ‘Hum hain na (We are there),” he had said, referring to a popular Bollywood film. Uddhav said the fight was not against one person or party but against their policies and dictatorship.
“We are fighting for Bharat, and we will take the fight forward and we have come together for that. This fight is not just for our party,” Thackeray had said.
MPCC president Nana Patole said Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, his Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren will be part of the conclave. Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav will also attend.
In addition, NCP president Sharad Pawar, UBT Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, RJD president Lalu Yadav and other heads of opposition parties will join the deliberations. “The logo of the INDIA alliance will be released on August 31 in the presence of all these leaders,” Patole said.
A senior Congress leader said chief ministers of Congress-ruled states Rajasthan, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh may not participate in view of restrictions on the number of attendees per party. “We have restricted the number of persons per party to three, so it may not be possible to accommodate chief ministers of Congress-ruled states,” the leader said.
Patole said that during the freedom movement, the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, had asked the British to ‘Quit India’ from the land of Mumbai, and now INDIA will give a call to the BJP to quit. “It will be a historic conclave; we expect even a section of NDA’s constituents to join the INDIA alliance. In our opinion, the people of India are tired of PM Narendra Modi’s rule and are looking for a change. There is a steady decline in his (Modi’s) popularity. Under such circumstances, we feel that while the BJP does not have a new face, INDIA will be able to provide a new leader to the nation. INDIA will take a decision on the new leader at an appropriate time, but we feel Rahul Gandhi will be the best choice,” Patole said.
On Ajit Pawar’s rebellion, Patole said that along with Ajit, several NCP legislators have joined hands with Devendra Fadnavis not for development but out of fear of coercive action by the ED and the income-tax department. “This has been made clear by none other than Sharad Pawar himself. These people were in power for the past several years but failed to take steps for development,” Patole said.
Uddhav Thackeray had, at that meeting, hit out at PM Narendra Modi for his “for the family” comment aimed at the opposition front’s attempt to unite anti-BJP parties. Uddhav had said that the country was their family and they were fighting for it.
He had also said that that people should have no reason to fear as opposition parties were there to fight for them. “There was a film called ‘Main hoon na.’ Just like that, ‘Hum hain na (We are there),” he had said, referring to a popular Bollywood film. Uddhav said the fight was not against one person or party but against their policies and dictatorship.
“We are fighting for Bharat, and we will take the fight forward and we have come together for that. This fight is not just for our party,” Thackeray had said.
