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As the Opposition alliance INDIA proceeds to outline the contours of a combined challenge to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre in the Lok Sabha elections next year, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Shakti Singh Yadav on Wednesday said the primary objective of the 28-party bloc is to ensure that people come out of the state of "fear" under the present regime.
Led by former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the RJD is a partner in the Opposition alliance. Speaking to ANI ahead of the first meeting of the coordination committee meeting of the Opposition bloc, the RJD leader said, "Every leader in the committee will put forward their points of view to take forward the alliance and its objective, which is to unseat the BJP-led NDA from power at the Centre. All the meetings of the alliance were conducted peacefully. Every party in the alliance has a common objective to ensure that the people come out of the state of fear (under the BJP rule)." The inaugural meeting of INDIA panel is currently underway at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) patriarch Sharad Pawar's residence in the national capital. Earlier this month, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut informed that the first meeting of the coordination committee of the INDIA bloc will be held on September 13. At its third meeting in Mumbai earlier, on September 1, the INDIA partners announced the formation of a 14-member coordination committee to steer the bloc going forward. The names of all the members of the panel, barring one, were announced. However, the bloc, till date, has yet to pick a convener. The 14-member committee includes KC Venugopal (Congress), Sharad Pawar (NCP), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (SS), Tejasvi Yadav (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Raghav Chaddha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lallan Singh (JD(U)), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (NC), and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP). Another member from theCPI(M) is to be named at a later date. The bloc, at the Mumbai meeting, adopted resolutions to collectively contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seat-sharing arrangements would be finalised at the earliest in a spirit of "give-and-take". The first meeting of the joint opposition was held in Patna on June 23 and the second was hosted in Bengaluru on July 17-18. (ANI)
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