The remarks came amid reports that Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar may return to the BJP-led NDA.
Published Jan 27, 2024 | 5:41 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 27, 2024 | 5:41 PM
Jairam Ramesh. (Screengrab)
The Congress, on Saturday, 27 January, asserted that the INDIA bloc is not imploding even though the BJP is trying its best to do “mini-implosions” in the Opposition alliance.
The remarks came amid reports that Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar may return to the BJP-led NDA.
Meanwhile, on Friday, 26 January, Bihar JD(U) president Umesh Singh Kushwaha made a statement, refuting rumours that his party, headed by the Chief Minister, was thinking of a return to the BJP-led NDA.
Kushwaha, however, said, “We want the Congress, which is our alliance partner, to do some introspection with regard to its stance towards other constituents and sharing of seats. Our leader Nitish Kumar has for long been stressing the need for early finalisation of a seat-sharing deal so that we could concentrate on Lok Sabha polls”.
Kumar had joined hands with RJD, founded by his former arch-rival Lalu Prasad, in August 2022 after he severed ties with the BJP. The longest-serving CM of Bihar, thereafter, embarked upon a drive to bring together all parties across the country to take on the BJP that culminated in the formation of the opposition bloc INDIA.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told a press conference in Delhi that party chief Mallikarjun Kharge is trying to get in touch with Kumar but the two are have not been able to connect yet.
He said Kharge has been trying to speak with Kumar and his office has responded. But the two are unable to connect due to their pre-occupations, the Congress general secretary said.
Ramesh also said that Kharge has already established contact with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and has also written to her.
“I am hopeful that Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar, being co-architects of the opposition alliance, will continue to be part of the INDIA bloc,” Ramesh said.
TMC supremo Banerjee has already announced that her party will fight the Lok Sabha elections “alone” in West Bengal, and in case, Kumar decides to return to the NDA fold, the Opposition united front will take another big hit.
On Wednesday, 24 January, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee had announced her party’s decision to go solo in her home turf of West Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“I had no discussion with Congress. I have always said that in Bengal we will fight alone. I have given them (Congress) many proposals but they rejected them. I am not concerned about what will be done in the rest of the country but we are a secular party and in Bengal we will defeat the BJP alone,” Banerjee told reporters on Wednesday.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also said that the Aam Admi Party (AAP) would be going it alone in the state for the upcoming polls.
The TMC and the AAP are part of the INDIA bloc with the Congress, the CPI(M) and other parties.
Neither the TMC nor AAP have withdrawn from the INDIA bloc but find it politically more savvy to contest against other INDIA bloc constituents -who are their direct political contenders – instead of ceding space for BJP to emerge as the only alternative.
(With PTI inputs)
