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Indian opposition parties form alliance to take on ruling BJP

Allies seek to unseat ruling party in 2024 parliamentary elections

Published: Tue 18 Jul 2023, 4:40 PM

Updated: Tue 18 Jul 2023, 4:41 PM

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Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and others at a press conference after the opposition parties' meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday. — PTI

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and others at a press conference after the opposition parties' meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday. — PTI

More than two dozen Indian opposition parties said on Tuesday that they had joined hands to form an alliance called “INDIA” to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in parliamentary elections next year.

The decision was announced at the end of a two-day meeting of 26 parties in the southern city of Bengaluru.

Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition Congress party, said INDIA stood for “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance”.

“We will meet again in Mumbai to discuss the details on seat sharing and campaign management,” Kharge said adding that a joint statement will be circulated shortly.

“We have come together to save this grave situation in the country,” the Congress leader said.

The name for the new alliance was proposed by Rahul Gandhi and was accepted by all the parties, Kharge said.

The Opposition parties met to chalk out a strategy to put out an united front to take on the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

Prior to Kharge’s announcement Bihar chief minster Nitish Kumar headed JD(U) took to Twitter to post the same.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore said on Twitter, “INDIA will win.”

“Chak De! INDIA,” tweeted Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien.

After the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asked whether the National Democratic Alliance would be able to challenge the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance or I.N.D.I.A.

Banerjee said that everything will be done under the banner of I.N.D.I.A and they will “save the country from disaster”. “To save India, they are selling India, they are trying to buy democracy. They don’t let any state function independently. ED and CBI keep reaching us. India jitega BJP harega! (India will win BJP will lose.)

Meanwhile, Kharge said that there are differences “between some of us” at the state level but these are not ideological and are not so big that these cannot put them behind for the sake of people who are “suffering” due to policies of the BJP-led government, sources said.

Kharge also referred to his remarks at Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s birthday in March this year in which he had indicated that the question of a PM candidate was “not the question” and all like-minded parties must come together in the fight “against divisive forces”.

“I had already said in Chennai on Stalin’s birthday that Congress is not interested in power or the post of Prime Minister. Our intention in this meeting is not to gain power for ourselves. It is to protect our constitution, democracy, secularism and social justice,” Kharge said at the meeting, according to sources.

Kharge had said in Chennai that it was imperative to take on “divisive forces” on a united front. He had said that Congress is not telling who will lead or not going to lead and that the party had made sacrifices for secularism, liberty, freedom of expression.



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