INDIA bloc Mumbai meeting live updates | INDIA alliance will defeat BJP in national elections, says Rahul Gandhi

After the two-day meeting of the INDIA alliance parties, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attended a party event in Mumbai.

Mr. Gandhi said “What happened in Karnataka, where Congress won assembly polls, will happen in Telangana, MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh.”

Mr. Gandhi said “Congress did not split in Maharashtra because it is based on ideology” and further asserted that “INDIA alliance is going to defeat BJP in national elections.”

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, “we are being criticised even for holding a meeting. In the last ten years, the government of the day, do not have their feet on the ground.. And then they are the ones to call us “ ghamandiya” or arrogant( PM Modi had used the word for INDIA parties).”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “two very big steps were taken (today). The most important thing to understand is that this stage represents 60% of India’s population. If the parties on this stage unite, it is impossible for BJP to win the election. First step is to set up a coordination committee and also speed up seat sharing talks. These are two powerful steps to defeat the BJP.”

“The nexus between PM and a particular businessman is for everyone to see,” he said. “G20 is taking place, it is essential for our nation’s credibility that PM calls for an enquiry on the Adani group,” he added. “The idea behind PM Modi’s government is to extract money from the poor and transfer it to a limited few,” the former Congress president said.

“I am confident that INDIA will defeat the BJP,” Mr. Gandhi said. “The final thing I would say is the real work in the alliance is the relationship forged between the leaders. These three meetings have done a lot to build the relationship between us, I can see there is flexibility, of course there are differences but these are ironed out very comfortably,” he said.

Talking about China’s incursion, the Congress leader said, “I spent a week in Ladakh, I went to Pangong lake, right in front of Chinese area. I had detailed discussion, probably the most detailed discussion that a politician outside of Ladakh has had. They categorically told me that PM Modi is lying about China not taking land. Clearly an accommodation happened between the government and the Chinese. Our shepherds told us that they are not allowed in the areas where they could go earlier.”

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, “two more parties have joined, more parties will join. At the State level we will work out the seat arrangement, it will vary from State to State.”

“To save the character of Indian republic, to save the Constitution and particularly to uphold the guarantees irrespective of caste, creed and gender, we have to keep the BJP away from power. It is for that objective we have come together,” Mr. Yechury said.

“When we met in Bangalore, they resurrected NDA, when we came here they slashed the LPG prices by ₹200 and now they announced a Special Session of the Parliament. One doesn’t know what gimmicry will follow. A series of public meetings will follow across the country,” he said.

RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav said, “all the Opposition parties were sitting apart and the country paid for it. Modi(Prime Minister Narendra Modi) benefitted from this. I have been saying Bhajpa Bhagao Desh Bachao (Drive out BJP, save India).”

“Minority is not safe in this country, poverty is on the rise and there is uncontrolled inflation... Lady finger is selling at ₹60/kg and tomato.. well you know it’s situation,” he said.

“You may remember they came to power speaking lies.. They said naming some of us that our money is in Swiss banks and that they will bring back the black money. They promised ₹15 lakh to each of us. Even I fell for it, we are 11 members in our family. Imagine, if each of us 11 were to get ₹15 lakh.. That would have been a handsome amount,” the former Bihar CM said.

“We have been told ISRO is now sending a space shuttle to Sun. I would suggest that PM Narendra Modi should, for the good of the nation, go to the sun,” he said.

“Now it is time for seat sharing arrangement. I assure you that too shall happen very smoothly. We will sacrifice if need be,” he said.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said, “INDIA is not merely an alliance of 26-28 parties, it’s an alliance of 140 crore people. They have come together for constructing the Bharat of 21st century.”

“Narendra Modi government is the most corrupt government, in the contemporary history of the country,” he said, adding, “the entire government is working for just one person.”

“I have never seen a more arrogant government and they believe they are bigger than God, which is the beginning of their end. Several forces will try to rip us. The next few days there will be news stories on internal feud.. But let me tell you, I have attended all the three meetings which are held amidst a lot of bonhomie,” the Delhi CM said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M.K. Stalin said “during the first meet, all of the 19 parties came together to bring BJP down. With the second meeting at Bengaluru, we named it INDIA and started the journey. During the third meeting at Mumbai now, we are proving that it is a strong alliance.”

He said, “You all are aware of how BJP functions. PM Modi, wherever he goes, whether it is a government related event or a party event, is unable to speak about the achievements of the last 9 years. The PM rather speaks about the INDIA alliance. He is acting as our ‘publication officer’. I thank him for that.”

“BJP has’t achieved anything in the last 9 years. Day by day this BJP is becoming unpopular whereas, INDIA is becoming more and more popular. The countdown of BJP has begun.”

“Even though we are all separate parties, we’ve joined hands with all the parties to save the nation. We will take part in a battle and I request you all to come support us.”

Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar said, “now in a systematic manner, we shall begin our campaign. Those who are in the Centre will certainly lose, they’ll certainly have to leave. They are on their way out. They want to alter the country’s history, we won’t let them do it. We stand for equitable progress of all communities and leaving no one behind.”

“The elections can happen before the schedule.. Therfore we have to be alert. We have spoken about this (in the meeting),” he added.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Modi government of working against the poor and for a few industrialists. “Modiji increases prices by ₹100 and then reduces the price by ₹2,” he said alleging that “this is theft from the poor people”.

Agencies like ED CBI are being misused by the Central government, the Congress chief said.

He said “Modi will never work for poor. His strategy has always been to work with the big industrialists.”

The Congress chief continued, “without asking Business Advisory Committee of the two Houses or the Opposition, the government has announce a Special Session of the Parliament. When Manipur was under fire, you didn’t call Special Session, when the country was reeling under COVID, they didn’t call a Special Session... But why are they calling a session now?”

“We will have 5-6 public meetings soon... we will let you know,” he said.

“Opposition is getting stronger,” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said, adding “there is nervousness in the Opposition camp since our unity is getting stronger.”

“We will fight against corruption, dictatorship and we will ensure India wins,” the former Maharashtra CM said. The former Maharashtra CM said that the bloc aims to bring in “fearless” India.

The coordination committee of INDIA bloc is likely to have 13 members: NCP’s Sharad Pawar, DMK’s M.K. Stalin, Congress K.C. Venugopal, JMM’s Hemant Soren, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, AAP’s Raghav Chadha, National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, CPI’s D. Raja, JD(U) Rajiv Ranjan Singh, RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav and Samajwadi Party’s Javed Ali Khan

The INDIA bloc said that “seat-sharing arrangements will be initiated immediately and concluded at earliest in collaborative spirit of give-and-take.” Sources said that the seat-sharing will be finalised by September 30 by the bloc coordination committee.

- PTI

Resolution of INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) parties to jointly contest the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha:

Congress president Malikarjun Kharge cautioned the INDIA parties to be prepared for “more attacks in the coming months, more raids and arrests” from the government in his opening remarks at the INDIA’s Mumbai summit.

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The formation of INDIA (the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance), the 26-member Opposition alliance, has again highlighted an oft-cited adage: elections and alliances are not only about arithmetic but chemistry too. Indeed, multiple elections in the past have shown that arithmetic alone is no guarantee of success. On paper, the INDIA front appears to have arithmetic on its side, but its chemistry is questionable. Without getting its chemistry right, INDIA would find it difficult to take on the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) formidable election machinery that derives its strength from Narendra Modi’s charisma and chemistry.

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Delhi Minister Atishi on Wednesday said Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal is not in the race for the Prime Minister’s post, hours after party chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar batted for him as the INDIA bloc’s PM candidate.

Later, party leader and Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai told mediapersons that every AAP member wants to see Mr. Kejriwal as the Prime Minister. He, however, added that the “decision on it would only be finalised by all members of the INDIA bloc and we will go accordingly”.

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“We, the INDIA parties congratulate the entire ISRO family — present and past — for its outstanding achievements which have made our country proud. It has taken six decades to build, expand and deepen ISRO’s capacities and capabilities. Chandrayaan-3 has thrilled the world, which is looking eagerly to the launch of Aditya-L1 tomorrow. We hope that the extraordinary accomplishments of ISRO strengthen the spirit of scientific temper in our society and give our youth the inspiration to excel in fields of scientific endeavour.”

26 Opposition parties in the country, including two national and 24 regional parties, have managed to stitch together a grouping to fight the 2024 general elections against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The alliance, named Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), has the parties of the Chief Ministers of seven States and a total of 142 members in the Lok Sabha.

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Pooling their resources, the INDIA parties are likely to set up a joint social media team drawing manpower from each party. The social media teams of all the coalition’s members are scheduled to meet on September 2 in Mumbai a day after the Opposition bloc’s third summit concludes.

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Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said the newly formed Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc would defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 2024. Mr. Yadav added that all sections of society in the country were angry with the anti-poor policies of the Union government.

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The Opposition leaders would discuss the agenda during the formal meeting on September 1 which will begin at 11 a.m., after which they would address a press conference jointly.

It was decided that a coordination committee will be formed after discussions, along with at least four sub-groups which include one to plan the joint agenda of the alliance, another on preparing the action plan and handling social media, and one on research and data analysis to take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Ahead of the meeting, the Opposition bloc’s logo is expected to be unveiled, while after the deliberations get over, a press conference will be held in the afternoon to give information about what decisions were taken during the conclave.