Who will be chairperson/convener, coordinator of INDIA bloc

Tribune News Service

Vibha Sharma

Chandigarh, August 18   

Amid reports of differences between some key members, all eyes are on the upcoming meeting of the INDIA alliance partners and who all will be the chairperson/convener, deputy chairperson and ‘sanyojak’ (coordinator) of the alliance that aims to lead the charge to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in the general election next year.

The buzz is that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may be named chairperson and convener of the 11-member coordination committee of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance parties at the two-day meeting in Mumbai, expectedly on August 31 and September 1.

Observers, however, sense an altogether different strategy. 

The importance of being Mamata and Satalin   

There is a strong possibility that TMC supremo and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee may be appointed the chairperson and DMK’s Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin the deputy chairperson of the INDIA alliance, they claim.

The reasoning for this hypothesis is simple.

Besides the fact that the TMC and DMK happen to be two major blocks without whom there is possibly no future of the INDIA alliance, they add that the Congress will also like to keep Mamata in good humour.

The DMK has 24 members in the Lok Sabha and TMC 23. In the Rajya Sabha, the DMK has 10 members and the TMC 13.    

Meanwhile, the Congress has 51 and 31 members, respectively, in the two houses of Parliament and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) 16 and five, respectively.   

Where does that leave others

Apart from the might of the numbers, by leaving these two posts for TMC and DMK, the Congress will have the right to the post of the coordinator.    

If Mamata, Stalin and Congress get the three key posts, it means that parties like Samajwadi Party, AAP, RJD and JD(U) will not only have to agree but also settle for lesser positions.   

All eyes are on how INDIA constituents work it out.

Though according to leaders of the Bihar Grand Alliance, INDIA parties and the Congress leadership agreed on the name of Nitish Kumar as the convener/chairperson in the last meeting in Bengaluru. The formal announcement (on the name of Nitish Kumar and Sonia Gandhi) is expected at the Mumbai meeting, they say.

Congress leaders recommended the name of Sonia Gandhi as the head of the coordination committee and “either Sonia or any person nominated by her (the buzz is around the name of senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh) may be appointed,” reports quoted them as saying. 

After the Bengaluru meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the 11-member coordination committee would be elected in the next meeting in Mumbai.

Is all well with INDIA bloc

The third meeting of the INDIA bloc is expected on August 31-September 1 in Mumbai, according to reports.

Ahead of the third meeting, political developments involving three key constituents—Congress, Sharad Pawar’s NCP and Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP—have led to speculation about the future of opposition parties' collective effort to take on PM Modi in the 2024 general election.

While a statement by Congress leader Alka Lamba on Wednesday resulted in a major war of words between AAP and Congress over the issue of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital, a meeting between Sharad Pawar and leader of the breakaway NCP Ajit Pawar evoked sharp reactions from Congress and Shiv Sena leaders, putting a big question mark on the future of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra.

All eyes are now on the third meeting of INDIA parties in Mumbai.

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#Mamata Banerjee #Nitish Kumar #Sonia Gandhi