New Delhi: The opposition alliance INDIA will stage a joint nationwide protest on December 22 against the suspension of 141 Members of Parliament (MPs) in a show of strength against the BJP. The MPs belonging to various INDIA parties and from both houses of Parliament were suspended over the past few days as the opposition leaders were demanding that either PM Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah must make a statement on the December 13 Parliament security breach inside the two houses.
Forty-nine MPs from Lok Sabha were suspended today (Dec. 19), 33 Lok Sabha MPs and 45 Rajya Sabha MPs on Monday (December 18), and 13 Lok Sabha MPs and 1 Rajya Sabha MP on December 14 for the remainder of the Winter Session for “gross misconduct”.
“The INDIA parties will protest against the suspension of the 141 MPs across the country on Dec 22. This is a first-of-its-kind incident. This is undemocratic,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said after the alliance meeting. As many as 28 parties under the INDIA banner discussed the 2024 Lok Sabha polls strategy for around three hours and were unanimous that they should take on the BJP collectively.
“All the parties were unanimous that we must take the alliance forward. The INDIA passed a resolution condemning the suspension of 141 MPs. We will have to fight together to save democracy in the country,” Kharge said. The Congress chief said the demand made by the opposition over the statement of either the PM or the home minister was right.
“The PM inaugurates a building and visits his parliamentary constituency (Varanasi) while the Parliament is in session but does not make a statement on the parliament security breach inside the two houses. When the opposition makes a demand, they get suspended. We will fight against this together. The PM and the HM think only they are fit to rule. We will show them that they are wrong,” said Kharge.
Meanwhile, the INDIA alliance also decided to complete the seat-sharing for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls at the earliest and will conduct the exercise at two levels. “First the seat sharing will be discussed at the state level and then if there are any issues, they will be resolved at the INDIA alliance level,” said Kharge. The Congress chief expressed the hope that seat-sharing issues with allies like SP and AAP would be resolved soon.
“Whatever issues are there in Uttar Pradesh and the problems in Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat, will be resolved,” he said. The Congress has been demanding at least 20/80 seats in UP from the SP while the grand old party’s state units in Delhi, Punjab and Gujarat have reservations over having a poll pact with the AAP. The Congress chief asserted that getting a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls was the priority of the INDIA alliance and not who will be its prime ministerial candidate.
“Our main task is to win and get a majority. The PM issue will be decided by the elected MPs later through a democratic process,” said Kharge. The Congress chief said that after the Dec 19 meeting of the alliance, around 8-10 more INDIA conclaves would be held across the country to spread the message of the opposition and take up issues impacting the people. “We will fight and win. We will take the message to the people,” Kharge added.
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