New Delhi: Addressing a joint press conference after the third meeting of the Opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said the next Lok Sabha elections could be conducted before time and all partners in the bloc should remain “vigilant”. “All the parties in the alliance are working together to ensure that those at the Centre are defeated,” he said.
“All partners in the alliance have set aside their differences and are working unitedly towards a common goal, which is to unseat the BJP at the Centre. Those pulling the strings at the Centre will lose, be assured,” Kumar said.
Claiming that the media had lost its independent voice under the BJP, he said, “Your voices are being muzzled right now. The day you are set free, you’ll be able to speak and write what you think is right. This is very important in a democracy. They want to rewrite the country’s history but we won’t allow them to do it.”
Also speaking at the joint presser, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge lashed out at the Centre over the announcement of a special session of the Parliament from September 18-22 saying the decision was arrived at without taking the Opposition in the loop.
Claiming that the BJP-led Centre was “slowly moving towards a dictatorial rule”, he said no such session was convened when Manipur was “burning” or when the country was reeling under the Covid-19 pandemic. He said neither was any special session called before the move to recall high-value currency notes or discuss issues pertaining to migrant labourers.
Kharge further said that the meeting went well and all I.N.D.I.A. partners are determined to fight against “rising inflation” and “unemployment” under the Central government. Claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will “never fight for the poor”, he added that the ruling BJP believes in and practices “institutional corruption”.
Taking potshots at the PM Modi-led government at the Centre over the decision to slash the prices of cooking gas, Kharge said the prices were reduced marginally only after being increased.
Speaking at the press conference, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the members of the alliance represent 60 percent of the country’s population. “If all parties come together then it is impossible for BJP to win. The task is to come together in the most efficient way possible,” he said.
“It is very clear that the BJP-led government at the Centre is rattled by the coming together of all the secular parties. This alliance has expanded as two more parties have come onboard. We have had discussions on the basis on which seat sharing will be done at the state level,” CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said at the presser.
Also making a brief address at the press conference, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said those opposing I.N.D.I.A. were getting “nervous” as the Opposition alliance is gathering strength with every passing day. Also taking on the Centre over inflation, he said while the government has slashed the prices of LPG, there is no food to put on the stove as prices of essential food items are going through the roof.
Claiming that all was well between the Opposition partners, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said there will be attempts to weaken the alliance but all members of the bloc are united by a common cause to unseat the BJP from power at the Centre.
“There's no tussle between anyone in the alliance," the AAP convener asserted.
RJD chief and former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav said the country suffered the BJP rule all these years as the Opposition was not united.
“The country suffered because we were not united. We had always said 'Bhajpa Hatao Desh Bachao'. This is now turning out to be true,” he said.
Earlier on Friday, the members made some forward strides towards the larger goal of waging a joint fight against the BJP-led NDA in next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
The alliance announced the formation of a 13-member coordination panel comprising Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Shiv Sena leadewr Sanjay Raut, Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, JD(U) leader Lallan Singh, AAP MP Raghav Chadda, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, SP leader Jadhav Ali Khan, CPI leader D Raja, NC leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, and PDP chief and former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti.