After thaw, Opposition leaders to get hot on INDIA agenda for LS polls

Picking up the pieces: After the Assembly poll debacle, the Congress has become more receptive to other Opposition parties. This may aid reconciliation at the INDIA meet tomorrow. Archis Mohan writes

In an attempt to restrict the untempered influence of 10 Rajaji Marg, the official residence of Mallikarjun Kharge, the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president, the party shifted the meeting of the INDIA bloc on Tuesday to a hotel in the national capital. This move comes as a response to the abortive December 6 meeting of the Opposition bloc at Kharge’s residence.
 

The Congress, which in many respects still runs from 10 Janpath, had been ignoring its allies for the 90 days between their last meeting in Mumbai on August 31-September 1 and the election results to the five poll-going states on December 3. This neglect eroded the salience of the alliance that Kharge and his team had been diligently shaping since February this year. The party high command did not intervene when regional satraps, particularly in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, did not heed to the Congress president’s office.
 

However, recent events have helped mend fences within the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The expulsion of Trinamool Congress’ Mohua Moitra from the Lok Sabha, the security breach in Parliament, and the subsequent suspension of 14 MPs saw Congress leader Sonia Gandhi standing in solidarity with them during protests. Kharge, who led the Opposition charge in Parliament during the Winter Session, played a crucial role in this reconciliation.
 

Hence, INDIA bloc leaders are expected to convene in a less strained environment on Tuesday at New Delhi’s Ashoka Hotel. They aim to tie up loose ends, such as seat sharing and organising joint rallies, with a sense of urgency. The announcement of the Lok Sabha polls is less than 90 days away, necessitating an agreement on an alternative agenda. This has become crucial in light of the BJP neutralising the Congress’ welfarism with “Modi’s guarantees” in the recent Assembly polls.

 

The Congress, which governed two of the five states that went to the polls in November, namely Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, was hesitant to highlight unemployment and inflation during its campaign. However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently shifted the debate to unemployment following the security breach. His second leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, set to commence from a northeastern state in January, is expected to focus on livelihood issues; the previous one spoke of fighting hatred with love.
 

“There has been a security breach. But why did it happen? The biggest issue in the country is unemployment, which is boiling all over the country,” Rahul Gandhi said at the Congress headquarters, blaming the policies of the Narendra Modi government. Several BJP leaders and Union ministers responded to his comments. “For the record, unemployment in India is at 3.2 per cent, the lowest in six years,” BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya posted on X, demanding to know the “linkages” of the INDIA bloc’s leaders with those who breached security.
 

Rahul Gandhi’s yatra is likely to reach the Hindi heartland around the time the Election Commission could announce the Lok Sabha elections in the first week of March. However, his focus will be on the yatra, rather than the INDIA bloc’s campaign, leading to speculation among allies that the Congress leader is already looking at the Opposition's fight beyond May 2024.
 

In addition, the INDIA bloc may reconsider its decision to boycott certain journalists, a directive that leaders breached during the Assembly polls campaign. The bloc’s stance on social justice and caste census, which was Rahul Gandhi's leitmotif in the recent Assembly polls but failed to resonate with Congress workers and voters, will also be discussed.

The BJP, meanwhile, has responded by effecting a careful caste balance in its selection of chief ministers and their deputies in the Hindi-speaking states of Chhattisgarh, MP, and Rajasthan.
 

The INDIA partners will discuss their respective positions, and a common one, on issues of national security and international relations, the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, and the possible survey of the Idgah mosque in Mathura now that the Supreme Court has declined to stay the Allahabad High Court allowing an application for inspection the mosque by a court-appointed commissioner.