While the Congress leadership‘s intended central role in the bloc has come under strain with some allies openly questioning its attitude, crisis-torn All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) leader Mamata Banerjee, who pushed for this meeting, may find some allies of bloc unwilling to rally behind her and the AITC against the post-poll backlash. The internal tensions prompted holding the meeting at a neutral meeting, the Constitution Club, but some senior leaders such as Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), Uddhav Thackeray (SS-UBT), Hemant Soren (JMM) and MA Baby (CPI-M) have conveyed their inability to be present at the meeting, prompting Congress managers’ efforts to get at least some of them online or through their representatives. While the DMK had already disengaged from the bloc, much like the AAP, the Vijay-led TVK won’t be joining the INDIA bloc now.
While some INDIA bloc leaders are trying to make public concerns such as fuel price hikes, economic stress amid the Iran war and examination paper leaks part of the anti-Centre and anti-BJP agenda of the meeting, it is unclear whether the Opposition alliance would be able to find a common stand on the emerging Cockroach Janata Party, which some allies, especially the Congress, watch with suspicion.
A day after communicating to Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge the CPI (M)’s reservations about Rahul Gandhi’s tone of campaign in Kerala, the Left party decided to downgrade its representation at INDIA bloc meeting with party chief MA Baby keeping away and deputing party MP, John Brittas, to attend the meeting. CPI leader D Raja will join the issue.
Reiterating the charge against the Congress leadership on Sunday, Baby also said that the party’s future cooperation with the INDIA bloc outside Parliament would be subject to the Congress’ attitude. “Being the main opposition party in the Lok Sabha, Congress has a responsibility to maintain decorum within the opposition arrangement… We (CPI-M) would continue to cooperate on issues related to defending secularism and fighting the anti-people policies of the Union government. There will be full coordination among all the opposition political parties in Parliament. But, when it comes to political cooperation outside Parliament based on issues, we will make a decision,” he told journalists.
Hemant Soren’s decision to stay away from the meeting coincides with the JMM opposing the Congress on fielding a Rajya Sabha candidate in Jharkhand. There are indications of a “resourceful” independent candidate surfacing for the second Rajya Sabha seat.
Seeking to set the meeting’s tone against fuel price hikes, Kharge said, “The flames of rising domestic LPG prices are hell-bent on incinerating the kitchens of the common people!! In the last 4 months, the Modi government has hiked the prices of domestic LPG cylinders by ₹89… So why aren’t BJP leaders sitting on the streets with cylinders now?” Some organisers are hopeful of SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav attending the meet or deputing colleagues at the meeting, for which more than 20 parties have been invited, including about a dozen smaller allies of the Congress in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam.
