oppn parties I.N.D.I.A Bloc: Differences Remain, But Important Decisions Taken

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
I.N.D.I.A Bloc: Differences Remain, But Important Decisions Taken

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-09-01 15:20:10

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The third meeting of the I.N.D.I.A bloc concluded in Mumbai today but the parties failed to issue a political resolution or unveil the logo as announced. The logo part was understandable as according to reports, since five or six designs were shortlisted some leaders wanted further discussions to select the most appealing one. But not issuing a political resolution went against custom. Reports suggest that it was not issued as there were differences regarding the demand for caste census. While leaders from Bihar and UP wanted to include it in the resolution, Mamata Banerjee reportedly led the charge against it. Finally, it was decided not to adopt the political resolution.

The meeting set up a 14-member coordination committee comprising K C Venugopal (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), T R Balu (DMK), M K Stalin (DMK), Sanjay Raut (Shiv  Sena- UBT), TYejashwi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chaddha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lallan Singh (JDU), Hemant Soren (JMM), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP). But the decision to appoint a convener was kept pending.

The meeting also decided to fight the elections together 'as far as possible'. The conditional statement shows that several grey areas remain in finalizing seat sharing (the meeting decided to initiate talks about seat sharing at state level immediately) and the bloc will have to get past several dark alleys and craters before engaging the BJP in direct contests in the 400 seats it says it has reportedly identified. It has to be recognized that the alliance is still a work-in-progress. However, a beginning has been made and if all goes well, maybe the rhetoric will be translated into action in the constituencies and the bloc will be able to seriously challenge the BJP in 2024. The slogan displayed on the stage in Mumbai was - "judega Bharat, jeetega INDIA" (Bharat will come together to make INDIA win). But for that to happen, all parties in I.N.D.I.A will have to earnestly come together first.