I.N.D.I.A meet ends with more questions than answers

The INDIA bloc in its third meeting held here over two days decided to waste no time to tackle the BJP that has been mounting pressure on it through tactical play It made several committees comprising senior leaders of the 28 parties that make up the bloc to take their lsquodefeat Modirsquo agenda ahead with renewed vigour through the country The bloc will come out with its vision document on October 2 the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat in New Delhi An important decision taken was to not have a convenor but form a committee of 14 senior leaders to steer the allianceSome delegates said there were no skirmishes in the meeting on Friday and resolutions were passed to fight the Lok Sabha polls together and share seats for the mega show at the statelevel keeping in mind that some of them would have to sacrifice if the front were to win the strength to dethrone Modi The Mumbai meetingrsquos chief host Uddhav Thackeray confirmed the Gandhi Jayanti programme and the joint rallies to be held in Maharashtra and across the countryCommittee to leadThe most contentious issue of appointing a convenor for the front was avoided Instead they formed a committee of 14 senior leaders to steer the alliance It has been named the Coordination and Election Strategy Committee The octogenarian leader from Maharashtra Sharad Pawar who is fighting a split in his Nationalist Congress Party has been made a member of it along with mdash KC Venugopal Congress TR Baalu DMK Hemant Soren JMM Abhishek Banerjee TMC Sanjay Raut Shiv SenaUBT Tejashwi Yadav RJD D Raja CPI Lallan Singh JDU Raghav Chadda AAP Javed Ali Khan SP Omar Abdullah NC and Mehbooba Mufti PDP CPM is expected to suggest its representative laterGeneral Secretary of All India Forward Bloc D Devarajan told midday that it was decided that all committees would work in a collective manner sans designated chiefs ldquoIn fact there was no discussion on appointing a convenor The meeting went very well there was no difference of opinion just one expression that we should not waste more time to finalise things that are required at this stage to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party BJPrdquo he said Thackeray endorsed Devarajanrsquos view later in the day while talking to media personsResolutions were passed to fight the Lok Sabha polls together on Friday in the meeting PicPradeep DhivarAs expected West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee led the suggestion that the INDIA front needed to be active than ever before considering the BJPrsquos tactical approach ldquoLetrsquos not talk much Itrsquos time we acted fast and effectivelyrdquo she was reported saying A delegate confirmed this and informed that it was Banerjee who also suggested Mahatma Gandhirsquos birth anniversary to unveil the INDIA blocrsquos national agenda vision and approach for the consumption of the people Accordingly it was decided to gather in New Delhi at a spectacular programme to blow the final whistle for the decisive battle he addedThe need for unitySpeaking at a media conference after the meeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi put the need of unity in proper perspective He said the parties that had gathered in Mumbai represented 60 per cent population of the countryldquoToday two very big steps were taken If parties on this stage unite it is impossible for BJP to win elections The task in front of us is to come together in the most efficient way Forming a coordination committee and the decision to expedite seatsharing discussions are two steps necessary to ensure that the INDIA alliance defeats the BJPThe nexus between the PM and one businessman is for every person to seeI am confident that the INDIA alliance will defeat the BJP The real work in this alliance is the relationships that are forged between leaders of this alliance The past two meetings have done a huge amount of work to build rapport and to ensure that we all work as onerdquo Gandhi saidBanerjee skipped the press conference but not because of difference of opinion said master of ceremony Sanjay Raut She left early along with a couple of other leaders because of her scheduled flight he added Her heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee has been included in the coordination and strategy committee Mamata was among six CMs of the Oppositionheld states present in the conclaveCongress president Mallikarjun Kharge Shiv Sena UBT president Uddhav Thackeray Bihar CM Nitish Kumar his predecessor Lalu Prasad Yadav Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin CPM leader Sitaram Yechury Rahul Gandhi and Pawar told the media why their unity was crucial to bring about BJPrsquos defeatIn his inimitable style Yadav poked fun at Modi He even asked ISRO scientists to see if they could send the PM to the Sun in their upcoming space mission And then recalling his heart and kidney surgeries he said he was still alive because his resolve was strong and vowed to not breathe his last before removing Modi He assured that his party was ready to sacrifice seats to help INDIA win Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal termed the Modi government as the most corrupt and egoistic in independent India ldquoOur alliance will cause Modirsquos downfall Many big powers will be applied to break us but we will not give in Nobody is here for a positionrdquo he saidDMK President and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin said ldquoOur first objective is to dislodge the BJP regime and install a government of secular democratic forces at the Centre In order to isolate BJP as far as possible parties opposed to BJP must be inducted into the alliance I urge all the leaders to work with this in mindrdquo When the only goal is protecting Indian democracy ldquothere is no doubt that the BJP will be defeatedrdquo He said the alliance is marching on the path of victory The name INDIA itself is causing ldquofear and feverrdquo to the Saffron party he claimedResolutions passed by the alliancegtgt INDIA Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance parties will jointly contest the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabhagtgt Seatsharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give and takegtgt Public rallies will be held across the country at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importancegtgt The mass communication and campaign will be based on the themeldquoJudega Bharat Jiteega Indiardquo in different languagesCoordination Committee and Election Strategy CommitteeKC Venugopal INCSharad Pawar NCPTR Baalu DMKHemant Soren JMMSanjay Raut SSTejashwi Yadav RJDAbhishek Banerjee TMCRaghav Chaddha AAPJaved Ali Khan SPLallan Singh JDUD Raja CPIOmar Abdullah NCMehbooba Mufti PDPCPIM to give name laterWorking Group for Social MediaSupriya Srinate INCSumit Sharma RJDAshish Yadav SPRajeev Nigam SPRaghav Chaddha AAPAvindani JMMIltija Mehbooba PDPPranjal CPMDr Bhalchandran Kango CPIIfra Ja NCV Arun Kumar CPIMLTMC to give name laterWorking Group for ResearchAmitabh Dubey INCProf Subodh Mehta RJDPriyanka Chaturvedi SSVandana Chavan NCPKC Tyagi JDUSudivya Kumar Sonu JMMJasmine Shah AAPAlok Ranjan SPImran Nabi Dar NCAd Aditya PDPTMC to give name laterCampaign CommitteeGurdeep Singh Sappal INCSanjay Jha JD UAnil Desai SSSanjay Yadav RJDPC Chako NCPChampai Soren JMMKiranmoy Nanda SPSanjay Singh AAPArun Kumar CPIMBinoy Vishwam CPIJustice Retd Hasnain Masoodi NCShahid Siddiqui RLDNK Premachandran RSPG Devarajan AIFBRavi Rai CPIMLThirumavalan VCKKM Kadar Moidin IUMLJose K Mani KCMTMC to give name laterWorking Group for MediaJairam Ramesh INCManoj Jha RJDArvind Sawant SSJitendra Ahwad NCPRaghav Chaddha AAPRajiv Ranjan JDUPranjal CPMAshish Yadav SPSupriyo Bhattacharya JMMAlok Kumar JMMManish Kumar JDURajeev Nigam SPDr Bhalchandran Kango CPITanvir Sadiq NCPrashant KannojiaNaren Chatterjee AIFBSucheta De CPIMLMohit Bhan PDPTMC to give name later