Mumbai: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has once again given a piece of tough advice to his party, Congress, on the issue of INDIA bloc leadership. Aiyar expressed the opinion that Congress should not think about leading the India Bloc but should give a chance to whoever wants to lead this alliance.
He commented that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has the ability to lead this India Alliance and some leaders of other parties in this alliance also have this ability.
The India Alliance unsuccessfully fought the 2024 Lok Sabha elections across the country against the BJP-led NDA. Recently, a controversy has erupted over who should lead this alliance. A few days ago, Mamata Banerjee expressed her desire to lead the INDIA bloc forward. Some constituent parties in the India Alliance have supported Mamata Banerjee's desire.
The Mahavikas Aghadi, which is part of the INDIA alliance, had to face a crushing defeat in the Maharashtra Assembly. After that, questions are being raised again about the leadership of the INDIA bloc. Against this backdrop, Mani Shankar Aiyar's comments triggered a fresh debate.
Aiyar said that Congress should not think about leading INDIA alliance and whoever leads this alliance, the Congress party and its leadership will always have a more important place in the alliance.
The Congress leader said that the Congress will always have an important place among the opposition parties in the country even if it does not lead the alliance. He further said that Rahul Gandhi will get more respect as a leader of the Congress than this alliance.
Congress national spokesperson Surendra Rajput said that INDIA bloc is an alliance of 36 parties and many leaders in this alliance have the ability to lead this bloc. If there is a discussion about the leadership in the forthcoming meetings of INDIA alliance, a decision will be taken by the majority of those present in the meeting.
Former Chief Minister of the state Sushil Kumar Shinde refused to speak on this issue. Former minister and Congress MLA Dr. Nitin Raut clarified that he cannot speak on this issue. Former Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar reacted by saying that he will get information about this and speak later, he has not read or heard anything about it yet.
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