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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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