All parties welcome to join INDIA committee says Abhishek Banerjee after CPI(M) refuses
The Hindu
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.
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Almaya Munnettam (Lay People to the Fore), group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church opposed to the synod-recommended Mass, rejected a circular issued by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur on June 9 to implement the unified Mass in the archdiocese from July 3.
Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten stated that “not so great decision making” contributed to his side’s defeat to India in the Group-A T20 World Cup clash here on Sunday. The batting unit came apart in the chase, after being well placed at 72 for two. With 48 runs needed from eight overs, Pakistan found a way to panic and lose. “Maybe not so great decision making,” Kirsten said at the post-match press conference, when asked to explain the loss.