It's 'Modi vs INDIA': Battle lines drawn for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Alliances built on negativity have never won: Modi; Cong to not seek PM post

It will be the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, versus the National Democratic Alliance, or NDA, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the alliance of 26 Opposition parties announced after their two-day meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
 
Sources in the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress claimed their leaders, Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi, respectively, were the first to suggest the new canny acronym of the alliance. Another leader attributed it to “teamwork”. The battle in 2024, Rahul said, was to defend the idea of India. He said the fight is INDIA versus Modi, INDIA versus the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
 
The Opposition parties agreed to meet next in Mumbai. They also decided to set up a secretariat and an 11-member committee to look into various aspects of the alliance, including discussing a common minimum programme, joint public meetings, and seat-sharing in states.
 
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress’ intent was not to gain power for itself or the Prime Minister’s (PM’s) post but to protect India’s Constitution, democracy, secularism, and social justice. He said the parties would set aside their differences to flag the people’s suffering.
 
“The BJP did not get 303 seats by itself. It used the votes of its allies and came to power, and then discarded them. Today, the BJP president and its leaders are running from state to state to patch up with their old allies,” said Kharge.
 
Addressing a meeting of the 38 NDA partners in the national Capital in the evening, Modi said that in NDA, ‘N’ stands for New India, ‘D’ for Developed nation, and ‘A’ symbolises the Aspirations of India’s people and its regions.
 
The PM said it is possible that in the last nine years, NDA leaders may have tried but failed to reach him either because he was travelling or security compulsions. It could also be, he said, that they were not accorded a suitable seat during events.
 
“Mistakes must have been made, and some have come to my attention, but your affection for me despite this did not ebb,” the PM said.
 
Several NDA partners had left the alliance in the past few years.
 
Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan and Nationalist Congress Party’s Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel were among those who attended the meeting to mark 25 years of the NDA. Modi said the result of 2024 was a foregone conclusion and was evident in how foreign governments were inking crucial long-term agreements.
 
Modi said NDA’s 38 per cent vote share in 2014 increased to 45 per cent, in which it won more than 225 seats with more than 50 per cent vote share. Modi said the NDA’s vote share will cross 50 per cent in 2024.
 
Earlier in the day, virtually inaugurating a new terminal of the Port Blair airport just as the Opposition meeting was underway, Modi alleged the mantra of the Bengaluru “conclave of the corrupt” was “of, by and for the family”. Modi said the motto of the Opposition leaders was “family first, national nothing”.
 
In Bengaluru, the original suggestion at the Opposition meeting was to call the conglomeration of the Opposition parties the Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance. But the word “democratic” was replaced with “developmental” after some leaders pointed out that it sounded similar to the ruling National Democratic Alliance.
 
Congress Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said Rahul came up with the name, while TMC said it was Mamata.
 
“It will be NDA versus INDIA. According to sources, it will be BJP versus INDIA,” Mamata said at the closed-door meeting that Kharge chaired.
 
“We were not just looking for a name. We were looking for a big idea. We believe with INDIA we have that. INDIA versus NDA,” tweeted TMC’s Derek O’Brien.
 
Addressing the press conference, Mamata referred to Rahul as “our favourite”.
 
Mamata and the warmth between the two were visible during the day in Bengaluru, a TMC source said.
 
Kharge, Mamata, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray, and Rahul addressed the press conference.
 
“The fight is between NDA and INDIA, between Modi and INDIA, between BJP’s ideology and INDIA. You know what happens when someone stands against India, who wins,” said Rahul.
 
At the closed-door meeting, Sonia Gandhi said that there was a job to be done and that “we must do it together”.
 
According to sources, Kharge had requested Sonia’s presence in Bengaluru since political leaders of all allies respected her and also to persuade naysayers within the Congress.
 
The 26 parties issued a unanimous resolution, which speaks of their reasons for coming together, the crisis in Manipur, the attack on the federal structure, hatred and violence against minorities, the need for a caste census, and economic distress.
 
At the NDA meeting, Modi said his government conferred the Bharat Ratna on former President Pranab Mukherjee, a lifelong Congress leader and conferred Padma awards on Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and other political rivals. He said the NDA was a force of positivity while negativity marred the Opposition alliance.