Kharge pitches for Cong-led alliance
PNS|Raipur/Purnea
As fresh calls for opposition unity emerge, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday asserted only his party can provide “capable and decisive” leadership to the country and strongly pitched for a Congress-led alliance to defeat the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Kharge also said the Congress was ready to make whatever sacrifices that are required to get rid of the “anti-people and undemocratic” BJP government. Even as Kharge said the Congress was once again looking forward to forging a “viable alternative” by aligning with like minded parties, reminding that the party-led alliance(UPA) from 2004 to 2014 had effectively served the people, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the Congress will have to take a “quick decision” on opposition unity. According to Kumar, who is the JD(U) supremo, the BJP will be restricted to under 100 seats if all the opposition parties, including the Congress, fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly.
A draft political resolution being discussed at the Congress’ 85th plenary session said the Congress should go all out to identify, mobilise and align like-minded secular forces and it should include secular regional forces who agree with its ideology, stressing that emergence of any third force will provide advantage to the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance(NDA).
“There is an urgent need for a united opposition to take on the NDA on common ideological grounds.”
In his address to the session in Nava Raipur in Chhattisgarh, Kharge said Rahul Gandhi’s recent Bharat Jodo Yatra emerged as a strong voice against the unprecedented challenges that people face today.
“Such challenges include continuing assault on the constitutional values, democracy and social fabric of our country, issues of national security at the border with China, the prevailing atmosphere of hatred and fear, all-time high inflation, record unemployment and the increasing economic inequality,” he said.
“In the prevailing difficult circumstances, the Congress is the only party that can provide capable and decisive leadership to the country.”
From 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led alliance with like-minded parties effectively served the people of the country, he noted.
“We once again look forward to forging a viable alternative by aligning with like-minded parties to defeat the anti-people and undemocratic BJP government.
“We are ready to strive for the welfare of the people of our country and (will make) whatever sacrifices that are required.”
Kharge also said the goal for the upcoming state elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is clear.
The Congress president’s remarks assume significance as they come amid opposition unity talks to take on the BJP. Rahul Gandhi’s vehement criticism of the Trinamool Congress(TMC) recently has also drawn a sharp response from the party, signalling cracks in the opposition ranks.
In his concluding remarks before putting the political resolution to vote, former Union minister M Veerappa Moily, who was the chairman of the sub-group on political affairs for the plenary, said, “We have definitely given a roadmap for the Congress-led government to come back in 2024. We shall take the initiative, unite all secular and socialist forces to come along with the Congress to re-establish the Congress-led government in the country.”
In her address, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi urged party workers to achieve the goal of defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of Kharge.
“We must tackle this regime with vigour. We must reach out to people and convey our message with clarity. We must be ready to put aside our personal ambitions,” she said.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar spoke about the prospects of opposition unity while addressing a Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) rally in Purnea in Bihar of which the JD(U), the RJD and the Congress are among the constituents.
“If all the opposition parties, including the Congress, come together and fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls unitedly, the BJP will be restricted to under 100 seats,” he said.
“But the Congress will have to take a quick decision in this regard. If you (Congress) accept my suggestion, we can restrict the saffron party to under 100 seats. If you don’t, you know what will happen,” Kumar said.
The CM further claimed his only goal was to work for unifying the opposition to unseat the saffron party from power.
“I will keep trying to make it a reality. The BJP needs to be wiped out from the entire country,” he added.
In his first major speech after recovering from a kidney transplant operation, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad said he was confident that the BJP would be wiped out in the 2024 general elections.
The former Bihar chief minister and union minister exuded this optimism in a virtual speech relayed from his Delhi residence to the rally of the `Mahagathbandhan’.
Congress’ draft political resolution said unity of secular and socialist forces will be the hallmark of the future of the Congress party.
“The Congress should go all out to identify, mobilise and align like-minded secular forces
“We should include secular regional forces who agree with our ideology. There is an urgent need for a united opposition to take on the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) on common ideological grounds. Emergence of any third force will provide advantage to the BJP/NDA,” it said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, meanwhile, alleged that Nitish Kumar has joined hands with the Congress and the RJD after dumping the BJP, for realising his prime ministerial ambitions, which he keeps nursing “every three years”.
Addressing a rally at Lauria in West Champaran district in Bihar, Shah claimed that the JD(U) supremo has agreed to make RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav the next chief minister and asserted that he should announce when he intends to do so.
