INDIA Bloc's 'Informal Meeting' Today; AAP's Raghav Chadha May Attend as Mamata, Hemant, Stalin Skip

The meeting of INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) bloc to chalk out Opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha strategy will be held on December 17. The leaders, however, will continue to meet informally till then.

While RJD president Lalu Prasad, who is a close to the Congress leadership, made the announcement for deferred the meeting, sources said that December 6 will see a gathering of parliamentary leaders of INDIA bloc. Those leaders who are unavailable, can send representatives of the parties, sources added.

The meeting, scheduled to be held at 6pm, will decide the place for the next meet. According to sources, the Congress leaders have been calling the December 6 gathering as “informal meeting”.

Sources in the Aam Aadmi Party said that MP Raghav Chadha would attend the meeting on Arvind Kejriwal’s behalf.

Several leaders, including Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Nitish Kumar and Akhilesh Yadav, expressed their inability to attend the meeting on Wednesday.

The Congress is under fire from its allies for ignoring them during the crucial assembly elections, in which the grand old party was defeated in three Hindi heartland states.

Many leaders have reportedly gone on record to say that the Congress made a mistake by failing to take on board regional parties and trying to fight the BJP on its own.

BJP vs Opposition on Poll Results

Meanwhile, BJP leaders mocked Opposition leaders after they raised questions on EVMs post poll results in five states.

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged victorious in three Hindi heartland states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — in the recent round of Assembly polls, several opposition leaders raised questions over electronic voting machines, even as some said they had faith in the EVMs.

Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh slammed the opposition and said they blame EVMs whenever they fail to win elections. “There is nothing new. The opposition, whoever it may be, when they win, they are fine with the EVMs, but when they lose, they blame it on the EVMs,” he said.

Another BJP leader, S P Singh Baghel, said, “With these EVMs, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won elections in Delhi thrice and in Punjab once, the Samajwadi Party (SP) got an absolute majority (in Uttar Pradesh) in 2012, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got an absolute majority (in Uttar Pradesh) in 2007 and the Congress won Telangana.” He used an idiom — “Naach na jane angan tedha (a bad workman blames his tools)” — to explain the situation. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Chirag Paswan said the opposition is being repetitive.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Saugata Roy said there are concerns that should be addressed. “Our party has not taken a decision on this but there are, obviously, questions. Many opposition parties have raised the question that EVMs can be manipulated by telephone. Also, an Israeli technology has come into question in this matter. The government has taken a pro-Israel stand in the recent conflict (between Israel and Hamas). This needs to be looked into thoroughly,” Roy said.

“The results in several states were very surprising and led to the doubt about EVM functioning,” he added. BSP MP Danish Ali said he has always been against EVMs.

“Questions on EVMs are being raised for long. It was questioned by the BJP’s Lal Krishna Advani. BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP G V L Narasimha Rao has written a book on it,” he said. “Even when I was elected as an MP, I had said I will continue protesting against EVMs. Winning or losing is another issue, but even developed countries have stopped using EVMs. People do not have faith. Why not use ballot paper?” he asked.

Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Binoy Viswam said it is a serious matter to ponder over. “The confidence over EVMs is diminishing. More and more people are believing that EVMs are doing mischief in elections,” he said.