Amid speculations of seat-sharing among the INDIA bloc partners ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that at first, their team will take inputs from their party leaders in various states and then, after concluding, they will discuss their demands with their alliance partners.
“At the preliminary level, our team will first meet every leader; they will ask our leaders–those who are PCC presidents, CLP leaders, or senior leaders in every state. After observing these and getting a perception, we will sit together and discuss our demands,” the Congress chief said speaking at a press conference in Delhi on Saturday.
Mr Kharge said that to finalise seat-sharing between their partners, the party has formulated a committee, which is meeting every alternate day. The Congress chief said that they are engaging in all sorts of formalities to put forward their demand before the alliance partners.
“We have constituted a committee. A six-member committee is working. The Convenor is Mr Mukul Wasnik and Mr Gehlot is there, Bhupesh Baghel is there, P Chidambaram is there, Salman Khurshid is there…They are doing their best. We had one meeting already at my residence and they are meeting every alternate day to finalise what is to be done, where we have to demand, and where they will demand. They are doing all the formalities,” Mr Kharge said.
The Congress president said that the party is focusing on all 500-plus constituencies and has appointed parliament observers for the same.
“We are working in all 500 constituencies. We have already finalised 500 parliament observers. They will go to each parliamentary constituency. When we negotiate with the INDIA alliance in each state, then the exact number will come out,” Mr Kharge said.
Explaining the motive behind such an all-out action when Congress has agreed to formulate a seat-sharing formula, Mr Kharge said that they are putting their efforts everywhere in case their alliance partner disagrees with any particular seat.
“We are trying to put our efforts everywhere because suppose today we are thinking we are getting ‘A’ seat, suppose our alliance partner disagrees and asks us to take ‘C’ seat. Therefore, we are putting all 500 observers in each constituency,” he said.
Mr Kharge also added that the INDIA alliance will decide on the posts after a meeting in 10-15 days.
“In 10-15 days when we will meet we will decide who will take which post. Everyone is together and we are working unitedly. There is no problem in that,” he said.
On being asked whether the Congress has chalked out calculations on seats while embarking on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Mr Kharge said, “Our work is to give justice and for that purpose, we do not need to calculate on seats. We aim to make everyone aware on our way.”
When asked about having meetings with their alliance partners on the sidelines during the Yatra, Mr Kharge said, “This is an agitation….You can give us justice by getting ridding rid of them (BJP) in the 2024 elections. We have decided to hold 7-8 meetings with our coalition group. We will announce the places once we finalise them.”
Speaking on attending the Ram Janmaboomi temple inauguration on January 22, the Congress chief said, “I have received the invitation. I will decide what I will do.”
