Srinagar- Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge Wednesday stated that all parties who share the INDIA bloc’s core values would be welcomed in the opposition grouping, is what seemed to be a subtle hint for constituents of the BJP-led NDA to jump ship to the grand-old party-led alliance.
A day after the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 results were announced in favour of the BJP-led NDA, the opposition INDIA bloc leaders gathered at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to strategize the prospects for the coalition.
During the meeting Kharge said, “The public opinion of the 18th Lok Sabha elections is directly against Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.” He added that the elections were fought on his name and face and the public has given a clear message to his leadership by not giving the BJP a majority.
“The INDIA alliance welcomes all parties which share its fundamental commitment to the values enshrined in the Preamble to our Constitution and to its many provisions for economic, social and political justice,” the Congress president said in his opening remarks at the meeting.
Kharge’s remarks come amidst rampant speculations claiming that the INDIA bloc was making attempts to woo former allies Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu–currently part of the ruling NDA– to abandon the BJP-led alliance and join the opposition grouping so that the INDIA bloc could muster enough number to dislodge the BJP and form a coalition government at the Centre.
Addressing the opposition leaders who converged at his residence, Kharge said all INDIA alliance partners fought well, unitedly and resolutely.
Thanking the INDIA bloc partners, he said, “I welcome all INDIA alliance partners. We fought well, fought unitedly, and resolutely.”
Despite the BJP securing 240 seats and the Congress becoming the second largest party with 99 seats, the NDA commands a majority with 293 seats and is currently conducting a separate meeting to discuss forming the government. The opposition alliance, holding 234 seats, is expected to discuss the Lok Sabha election outcomes and the potential inclusion of the Janata Dal (United) and Telugu Desam Party to gather the necessary support for government formation.
Key figures from the Congress party, such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were present at the meeting. Opposition leaders like Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, T R Baalu of the DMK, Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren, Kalpana Soren of the JMM, Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule of the NCP-SP, Akhilesh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav of the SP, Abhishek Banerjee of the TMC, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, Sanjay Raut, Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena-UBT, Omar Abdullah of the JKNC, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI-M, D Raja of the CPI, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha of the AAP, and N K Premchandran of the RSP were also in attendance.
On Tuesday, the Lok Sabha elections results threw a major curveball with the BJP falling well short of the majority mark, bagging 240 seats, and unlike 2019, must now rely on its NDA allies to form the government.
However, with support from key allies Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, and other alliance partners, the NDA crossed the halfway mark.
The NDA has won 293 seats, while the opposition INDIA bloc has 232 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. A minimum of 272 seats are required to form a government at the Centre.
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