A day ahead of the first meeting of the coordination and steering committee of the INDIA bloc, voices from the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress struck dissonant notes. Any success of the opposition alliance in taking on the BJP-led NDA hinges on the success of seat-sharing between the members in various states, say observers.
On Tuesday, after a meeting with AAP Haryana office bearers in the party headquarters, its Rajya Sabha member and national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak said, “Vidhan Sabha elections will be held in Haryana soon. Haryana has a lot of energy and people want change. We will fight the Vidhan Sabha elections alone and on all seats.”
The same night, former Haryana chief minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that his party is capable of winning on its own and will fight on all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, meanwhile, kicked off the party’s Lok Sabha campaign along with Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann from Amritsar. Kejriwal is on a three-day tour to Punjab in what is being seen as a soft launch of the party’s parliamentary poll campaign. On the ground in Punjab, both AAP and Congress have declared that they don’t need the other and will fight elections on their own. “We will talk with everyone. All these decisions in AAP are taken by the Political Affairs Committee. Whatever decision is taken by the Political Affairs Committee and the consensus built in the coordination committee will show the road ahead for seat-sharing,” said AAP Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha when asked about the contradictions at various levels.
Even as disparate voices emerged from both camps, Chadha, who is also part of the all-important coordination committee of the INDIA bloc, said, “I have often compared the elections due in 2024 to the 1977 elections. In 1977 also there was a powerful government that subjected the people of the country to price rise, unemployment, and ‘Hitlershahi’, and in order to free the country from these three, many political parties came together to fight the Lok Sabha elections under the banner of the Janata Party. This had Left parties, Right-wing parties, socialists, and communists. Similarly, today, we have formed an alliance which is called INDIA. This alliance has many political parties as well as the support of 135 crore people for the national elections. When there is an opportunity to elect a new government in 2024, we will dislodge the BJP government which had bequeathed price rise and unemployment to the people and restore people’s power.
Raghav Chadha was referring to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s imposition of emergency. So did Chadha accuse the late PM of “Hitlershahi”? The young MP explained that the manner in which the emergency was declared and vasectomy imposed on people, they yearned for freedom from that and voted for it. Similarly, the people of the country today yearn for freedom from the manner in which there is an undeclared emergency in the country and want a political front to be formed to dislodge this government, he said.
Asked specifically to comment on the statement by Bhupinder Hooda, Chadha, a key link in the coordination committee, said, “If INDIA has to be a successful alliance, and it will be successful, all leaders, parties, and even the people, all have to sacrifice three things—manbhed (fundamental difference), matbhed (difference of opinion), and mahatvakansha (ambition). When these three political sacrifices are made, only then the INDIA front will be successful. I believe that this coordination committee will take all the decisions regarding seat-sharing. If any leader wants to express their opinions personally, they are free to do so within party platforms and outside also. However, the coordination committee will decide in which state how the seat-sharing will be done. It will not be the same formula everywhere. The situation in Bengal is different from that in Tamil Nadu, the one in Maharashtra is different from that in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh is different from Delhi and Punjab, and Haryana is different from Gujarat. Every state has its own political complexion and accordingly, all decisions will be taken.”
Raghav Chadha hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s allegation that the INDIA bloc does not have a face and the many voices emerging from each party to name its own leader as the PM candidate. “We have a lot of faces who are successful and able administrators and have run administrations successfully. Can someone in the BJP stand up and say that he or she would like to see Nitin Gadkari or Yogi Adityanath as the prime ministerial candidate for 2024?” he said.
Responding to the comment from INDIA ally DMK on “eradicating Sanatana Dharma”, Chadha said, “I belong to the Sanatana Dharma and I strongly condemn these remarks against the Sanatana Dharma. I oppose these statements. No one should make such remarks. All religions must be respected.”
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