oppn parties I.N.D.I.A Bloc Meeting: A Googly By Mamata Banerjee

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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I.N.D.I.A Bloc Meeting: A Googly By Mamata Banerjee

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-12-20 04:11:08

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

On Monday, Mamata Banerjee delivered a good length ball when she told reporters that the I.N.D.I.A bloc will think of the prime ministerial candidate after the 2024 elections. That stand was consistent with what she and other leaders of the alliance had been saying all along. But something changed on Monday night and when Banerjee attended the I.N.D.I.A bloc meeting on Tuesday morning, she delivered a googly before the assembled alliance partners when she proposed the name of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge as the candidate for the post. AAP supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal seconded the idea which found wide acceptance. (It is also being reported that Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar were miffed with the proposal and left the meeting early).

A majority of the I.N.D.I.A bloc partners were enthusiastic about the proposal to name Kharge as the face of the alliance as they thought it would be great to have the country's first Dalit prime minister. But Kharge, mindful of the fact that The Family is very sensitive to anyone other than Rahul Gandhi being projected as the prime ministerial candidate, chose to be diplomatic. He said that the alliance should focus on seat-sharing and winning the elections, and who would be prime minster can be decided once the alliance wins.

What is behind the sudden decision to propose a name at this stage? Are senior leaders in the alliance trying to nip Rahul Gandhi's claim in the bid? The leaders of almost all alliance parties (barring a few like the DMK) are against Rahul Gandhi being given the pole position within the alliance. Is this their way to tell the Congress that they will let the party lead the alliance only if Kharge, and not Rahul Gandhi, leads the charge? But if Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar (who harbours ambitions to lead the alliance and who gets support from Lalu Yadav because RJD wants Nitish to move to Delhi so that Tejashvi Yadav can take over in Bihar) are miffed with Kharge's name then it spells trouble for the alliance.

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