New Delhi: There is a sense of urgency within the INDIA alliance on seat sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the same will be completed as soon as possible, senior Congress leaders said on Saturday, ahead of the December 19 meeting of the opposition grouping.
The meeting in New Delhi is the fourth gathering of the opposition alliance after Patna, Bengaluru and Mumbai. “There is a sense of urgency this time on seat sharing. Things will move swiftly,” former MP Sanjay Nirupam told ETV Bharat. According to party insiders, state-wise panels including representatives of stakeholder parties in a state will be set up soon to hold seat-by-seat discussions.
“We already have a pact with local parties in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar,” said Nirupam. The list would then be discussed and finalized at the 11-member INDIA coordination committee, said the party insiders, adding that the target remains to put up joint candidates against the BJP on around 400 out of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats.
According to party insiders, there is a general agreement among the alliance partners to give the seats held by various parties to them. The discussion would then be limited to the remaining seats in which there can be a give and take, depending on which party has a strong presence in a given state, they said. Some Congress allies like JD-U had expressed apprehension over the delay of a few months in the INDIA alliance work as the Congress got involved with the five state polls.
Besides seat-sharing, the alliance partners would also deliberate on quickly finalizing the common minimum agenda. “We haven’t met since the Mumbai meet in September. We will decide what issues need to be taken up in the Dec 19 meeting. There will be a focus on joint action as well,” Congress Working Committee member Syed Naseer Hussain told ETV Bharat.
According to party insiders, though the Congress leaders keep targeting PM Modi, the focus of the opposition alliance would be on presenting an alternative vision for developing the country to counter the BJP. The party insiders said that the grand old party could have been in a stronger position to dominate the discussions within the alliance had it won the three Hindi-speaking states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh along with Telangana.
“Now the situation is different. We have a lot of work to do in a limited time frame. The Lok Sabha poll notification is likely in March and our action plan must roll out by January. A joint rally at a prominent location will be a good start,” a senior AICC functionary said. According to CWC member and former J&K unit chief Ghulam Ahmed Mir, “the opposition voice does not find a place in the main political discourse but there are a large number of people in India who want to hear an alternative view. We have to offer them something constructive and appeal to them ahead of the 2024 elections.”
“The real issues are jobs and unemployment and the INDIA alliance will keep talking about it,” he said.
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