New Delhi: India Block approves Mallikarjun Kharge as president

New Delhi: The India Bloc on Saturday approved Mallikarjun Kharge as the president of the opposition parties during a virtual meeting.

However, India Block has not yet officially announced Kharge’s name.

Sources said that Bihar Minister Nitish Kumar was the candidate for the post of convener of India Block. However, during the meeting he said that someone from Congress should take up this responsibility.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, former President Rahul Gandhi, leader K.C. Venugopal; Bihar ministers including Nitish Kumar, Lalan Singh and Sanjay Jha; Former Jammu and Kashmir minister Omar Abdullah; RJD president and Bihar ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav; PCN chief, Sharad Pawar; Prime Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal; Tamil Nadu Minister Principal M.K. Along with Stalin, other leaders also participated in the virtual meeting.

“The President’s nomination is only a first step. Block India faces many challenges. “Even many parties in the Indian bloc believe that one of the biggest challenges is the distribution of plantations,” political experts said.

This may make it difficult for the alliance partners to negotiate the formula for sharing farms in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Bihar.

Two meetings of the India Bloc have also been held to discuss the seat-sharing agreement between Delhi and Punjab and both sides said the discussions were in the right direction.

However, sources said that some controversial topics exist between the two political parties. Congress wants four seats in Delhi and seven in Punjab, but Aam Aadmi Party is not ready to fulfill this. Like Punjab, the ruling party in Delhi also wants the maximum number of seats. Apart from this, Aam Aadmi Party also wants to contest in Goa, Haryana and Gujarat under the seat sharing formula.

India Bloc is a group of opposition parties including Congress. The parties have come together to take on the BJP-led NDA and avoid winning a third consecutive term at the Center in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.