- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
The alliance, aiming to deny prime minister Narendra Modi a third straight mandate in this year’s general elections, faces a number of challenges from within.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Indian opposition taking on prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its National Democratic Alliance has picked a face to lead it and it is none other than Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Indian National Congress, the main opposition party.
The 82-year-old Kharge, a first member from outside the Gandhi family to lead the Grand Old Party in nearly two decades, was chosen at a virtual meeting on Saturday (13) as the chairperson of the opposition bloc INDIA — Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance — which wad formed last year with a number of anti-Modi parties joining hands.
The INDIA bloc was formed to deny Modi his third straight mandate after 2014 and 2019.
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Nitish Kumar, the chief minister of the eastern state of Bihar and a veteran politician, was also in the fray for the top post. But he reportedly said that someone from the Congress should take charge.
The meeting was attended by representatives from all parties, except Mamata Banerjee, the supremo of the Trinamool Congress and the chief minister of the state of West Bengal, and Akhilesh Yadav, chief of the Samajwadi Party. Sources said they will be informed about the decision.
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The INDIA bloc has been facing challenges from within its ranks on various issues, including over the appointment of a convener. Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) wanted him to be picked for the post but Banerjee’s TMC was against it, the Press Trust of India reported.
The meeting, which was a second attempt to hold such a deliberation after a previous effort failed to materialise, began in the afternoon to review the seat-sharing agenda between the opposition parties and participation in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, an upcoming cross-country walkathon to be held under Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, and other issues that the alliance is facing.
Several leaders at the meeting urged the member parties to ensure unity at the national level and not allow state-level differences to upset the alliance.
Sharing seats in states will be another major challenge for the bloc as a weakening Congress may find itself at odds with a number of assertive regional parties over understandings in a number of states.
Among the top leaders who attended the meeting were Sharad Pawar of the Indian Nationalist Congress and MK Stalin, chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu and the leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
