Mumbai, Sep 1 : Iterating that parties constituting the I.N.D.I.A
alliance represent 60 percent of the country’s population, Congress MP
Rahul Gandhi on Friday said it would be impossible for the BJP to win
next year’s Lok Sabha polls if the I.N.D.I.A bloc puts up a united
fight.
“The most important thing to understand is that this stage represents
60 percent of the Indian population. If the parties on the stage
unite, it is impossible for the BJP to win the election. So, the task
in front of us is to come together in the most efficient way
possible,” Gandhi said at a joint media conference of the I.N.D.I.A.
alliance after its third conclave here.
Stating that the alliance has taken “two big steps” in its two-day
meeting at the country’s commercial capital, Gandhi said “The first
step is we have formed a coordination committee and committees under
that committee”.
“And the second step is we have taken a decision that we will expedite
all seat sharing discussions and decisions and make them happen as
soon as possible,” said the former Congress president.
Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government was extracting
money from the county’s poor peope and transferring it to a limited
few, Gandhi said the the I.N.D.I.A alliance would come up with an
alternative development path.
“The Prime Minister and the BJP are a nexus of corruption and that is
the first thing that the INDIA alliance is going to demonstrate and
prove. The idea behind the Prime Minister Modi’s government is to
extract money from the poor people of this country and transfer it to
a limited few and so, we are going to propose a clear development
path.
“We are going to put together a clear set of ideas that will once
again involve the poor people, the farmers, the kisans, the workers in
the progress of this country,” he said.
Gandhi said after the three meetings of the anti-BJP parties, he could
say with confidence that the conclaves have helped build a “huge
amount of rapport among all the leaders” in ensuring “all of us work
together as one”.
“I can see that there is flexibility among all the leaders, in the way
we are approaching things. There are differences of course, but, I am
extremely impressed by the way those differences are minimised and
ironed out,” he added.
Gandhi also alleged that the media in the country has been “chained”
and averred that the I.N.D.I.A alliance was working to “free you from
your chains”.
Shiv Sena (UBT) President and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray said the alliance was marching ahead confidently to win the
upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“We are moving ahead step-by-step and the third INDIA meeting was
concluded successfully. We are all nation-lovers and we shall fight
those who are opposed to the country, you all know who they are,” said
Thackeray, who hosted the conclave attended by 28 political parties
from all over India.
Without naming the Bharatiya Janata Party, he reiterated that the
INDIA bloc will unitedly fight against autocracy, and corruption,
combat atrocities in different parts of the country, and work for a
‘new India’.
“We had heard of ‘sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, but thereafter, allies
were forgotten and friends only benefitted. For years there was
‘loot’, during election time ‘chhoot’ (rollback of gas cylinder
prices). We will stop all this,” declared Thacekray, whose party was
previously a constituent of the BJP-led NDA.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar alleged that
the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government was “ignoring” the problems
faced by the people – the farmers, youth, workers and others.
“Now everybody is unhappy with the BJP to whom they had given power…
The government does not have its feet on the ground,” said Pawar.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described the BJP as the most
“arrogant” and “corrupt” party to come to power post independence.
Describing the unity among the constituents of the alliance as the
unity of the country’s 140 crore people, he cautioned that “misleading
news about fissures in our unity may be planted, but we are together”.
Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar said the media was
now controlled by the BJP. “But we will give them freedom”.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M K Stalin, who spoke in
Tamil, appreciated the unity that exists among all the I.N.D.I.A
alliance partners.
