MK Stalin extended his support to Mallikarjun Kharge’s initiative, sources said.
New Delhi:
Hoping to consolidate the opposition parties against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, the Congress party has proposed a meeting of like-minded party leaders to discuss the current political situation and strategy in the run-up to next year’s national elections, sources told NDTV on Friday.
According to sources, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has reached out to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK Chief MK Stalin over the phone and invited him to join the proposed meeting. The DMK, which is a key ally of the Congress in Tamil Nadu and at the national level, has extended its support to the Congress’s plan for an opposition meeting.
However, no date and venue for the meeting have been finalised yet, as the Congress is waiting for the response of other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party, the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the Left parties.
The Congress’s move comes after the generally splintered opposition parties mustered a united front against the government during the budget session. The Congress hopes to build on this unity and form a broader alliance of opposition parties ahead of the 2024 general elections.
Since PM Modi came to power in 2014, he has dominated Indian politics and trounced the opposition in two successive general elections. But his BJP does not get a majority of the vote and could be in trouble if it comes up against a united opposition.
The latest signs of the fractured opposition coalescing emerged after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s conviction last month on a charge of defamation and his disqualification from parliament.
Opposition politicians say Mr Gandhi’s shock disqualification is the latest evidence of the Modi government’s strongarm tactics, and follows investigations and legal troubles faced in recent months by other opposition parties.
A day after Mr Gandhi’s conviction, 14 political parties jointly petitioned the Supreme Court, saying opposition groups were being selectively targeted by federal investigative agencies. The court, however, refused to consider the petition, saying it was too broad and vague.
The 14 main opposition parties accounted for 39 per cent of the national vote at the last election in 2019 and won 160 seats in the 542-member parliament. BJP alone got 38 per cent of the votes but won 303 seats in the first-past-the-post system.
PM Modi, however, remains hugely popular with high approval ratings after nine years in power and has been expected to win a third term easily in the face of a so-far divided opposition.
Last month, Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal and the head of Trinamool Congress, also called for a unified opposition to challenge the BJP in the 2024 elections. She had previously said her party would contest alone.
(With inputs from agencies)
