All parties welcome to join INDIA committee says Abhishek Banerjee after CPI(M) refuses

Abhishek Banerjee, TMC leader, welcomes all parties to join INDIA Opposition Bloc in fight against BJP. CPI(M) has reservations and decided to stay out. WB CPI(M) has expressed reservations against joining. TMC maintains political dominance over Left and Congress.

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on September 18 said that in the fight against BJP all political parties are welcome to be part of the committee of the Opposition bloc (INDIA) Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance . The remarks by the Trinamool general secretary come a day after Communist Party of India (Marxist) expressed reservation against the ‘organisation structures’ of Opposition bloc INDIA creating ‘impediment’.

The CPI(M) has decided to stay out of the coordination committee of INDIA.  “While all decisions will be taken by the leaders of the constituents, there should be no organizational structures that will be an impediment for such decisions,” a statement by the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said on Sunday.  The West Bengal unit of the CPI(M) has expressed reservations against joining the body and the top body of the party accepted it.

 Secretary of CPI(M) West Bengal party unit Md. Salim said that INDIA Opposition Bloc is for mass movement against the BJP led government where all parties should come together and campaign jointly. The CPI(M) leader said that the party’s Polit Bureau has made a decision (not to be part of the committee) since the INDIA alliance has decided that seat-sharing in 2024 will not be at a national level but at a state level. 

One seat in the 14-member coordination committee of which Abhishek Banerjee is a member has been left vacant for the representative of the CPI(M).

“The CPI(M)) will decide on what stand they will take and I don’t want to comment on that. In the fight against the BJP, we have welcomed all like-minded parties,” Mr. Banerjee said while leaving for Delhi.

The CPI(M), which has an electoral alliance with the Congress in West Bengal, is directly engaged in an electoral contest with the Trinamool Congress. The State leadership of both the CPI(M) and Congress have not spared any opportunity to target the Trinamool Congress, even after the parties came together under the banner of INDIA.

Political observers feel that if the INDIA bloc comes to seat sharing, implementing the agreement on ground between the Trinamool Congress on one side and CPI(M) and Congress on the other side can emerge as a challenging proposition. The Trinamool Congress also maintains political dominance over the Left parties and Congress, with the ruling party securing 52 % votes in the recently concluded panchayat polls while the CPI(M) and Congress together could not manage 20 % votes together.