INDIA bloc to ready campaign strategy

New Delhi: The first meeting of the coordination committee of the Opposition bloc INDIA will focus on finalising campaigns and rallies to be held in the coming days, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Manoj Jha said on Monday. Jha said the results of the recent bypolls in seven Assembly seats in six States — of which the Opposition won four and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) three — show that a narrative is getting built in favour of the INDIA bloc. "The meeting of the 13th is important, meetings of the different sub-groups have been held, like the social media committee, campaign committee, research committee, all have held their meetings."

“The deliberations held in these meetings will get a stamp of approval. A final shape will be given to the agenda, what would be the programmes, where the campaigns will be held, it will all be deliberated upon,” he said.

The meeting of the 14-member coordination committee of the INDIA bloc, which is the top decision-making body of the grouping, will be held at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in Delhi on Wednesday.

Over two dozen Opposition parties have formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Asked about the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summoning Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, a member of the coordination committee, to appear before it on the day of the meeting, Jha said the government is using agencies where it is incapable of defeating opponents politically.

“The day we formed the INDIA alliance — ‘Judega Bharat, Jitega India’ — we knew ED, I-T, CBI would be let loose. Today Abhishek Banerjee has got a summon; someone else will get it.... These people have this mindset that if you cannot deal with the Opposition politically, arrest them. They forget the bars of the prison are not so strong that it may contain people’s outrage,” he said, targeting the ruling BJP.

“This shows the Prime Minister and his team have not been able to get any concrete political vocabulary against the Opposition alliance INDIA. They are calling us East India Company, Ghamandiya.... The Prime Minister and his team look rattled, worried...,” the Rajya Sabha MP said.