New Delhi: The INDIA bloc is gearing up for its first joint rally in Patna on March 3 where various senior leaders of the opposition alliance will stage a show of strength ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
While Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former chief Rahul Gandhi are expected to attend the Patna rally, other senior leaders from the Shiv Sena UBT, NCP Sharadchandra Pawar, Left parties, JMM, DMK, AAP will also attend the event.
The RJD, a strong regional player in Bihar, and an old Congress ally, is hosting the March 3 rally to send a message across the country as the INDIA bloc’s first meeting was held in June last year in Patna. The alliance got its formal name Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in the second meeting held in Bengaluru a few weeks later. “We are all geared up to ensure the success of the Patna rally tomorrow," AICC secretary in charge of Bihar Ajay Kapoor told ETV Bharat.
"It will be a big opposition rally. All INDIA alliance partners will attend. The rally will send a strong political message that we are united and ready to take on the BJP and its ally JD-U,” Bihar Congress Working President Kaukab Quadri said. The Patna rally is being held by the RJD to mark the culmination of party leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav’s recent whirlwind tour across Bihar to mobilize public support for the opposition alliance.
“Tejashwi Yadav’s yatra was called Jan Vishwas Yatra to earn the trust of the people who had made RJD the single largest party in Bihar in the previous assembly elections. The yatra received a huge response. The Patna event is therefore called the Jan Vishwas Rally,” said Quadri.
According to Congress insiders, the RJD and the Congress are keen to send a message to the BJP and its ally JD-U as the latter ditched the opposition Mahagathbandhan recently, when chief minister Nitish Kumar went back to the BJP’s fold after enjoying power with the support of Congress, RJD and Left parties.
JD-U leaving the opposition alliance had rocked the INDIA block as Nitish Kumar was its founding member but the Congress managers were soon able to seal seat-sharing deals with the SP in Uttar Pradesh and with AAP in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. Announcements in Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil, Nadu and Maharashtra are expected soon, said Congress insiders.
Recently, when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra had passed through Bihar, Tejashwi Yadav had joined the march and drove around the former Congress chief in an open jeep. “The bonhomie between the two leaders had charged up the workers of both parties. The March 3 rally will further boost the opposition alliance not only in the state but across the country,” said Quadri.
Congress insiders said they had expected to work out the seat-sharing in Bihar before the Patna rally but the same would now be announced after the event. “Discussions are on and the formula will be announced soon. There is no problem as the Congress association with RJD is old,” said Quadri. Elaborate arrangements have been made by the alliance which has set up several camps for the people coming for the rally to be held in iconic Gandhi Maidan.
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