‘INDIA Bloc Open To All Parties Who…’: Kharge’s Invite To NDA Constituents?

Lok Sabha Election Result: Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge Wednesday stated that all parties who share the INDIA bloc’s core values would be welcomed in the opposition grouping, in what seemed to be a subtle hint for constituents of the BJP-led NDA to jump ship to grand-old party-led alliance.

“The INDIA bloc would welcome all parties that share a fundamental commitment to the values enshrined in the Preamble of Constitution,” Kharge said at the first meeting of the opposition alliance after its stellar showing in the Lok Sabha elections.

#WATCH | Leaders of the INDIA bloc after their meeting at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/zj6QgepnDk

— ANI (@ANI) June 5, 2024

“The INDIA alliance welcomes all parties which share its fundamental commitment to the values enshrined in the Preamble to our Constitution and to its many provisions for economic, social and political justice,” the Congress president said in his opening remarks at the INDIA bloc meeting.

Kharge’s remarks come amidst rampant speculations claiming that the INDIA bloc was making attempts to woo former allies Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu–currently part of the ruling NDA– to abandon the BJP-led alliance and join the opposition grouping so that the INDIA bloc could muster enough number to dislodge the BJP and form a coalition government at the Centre.

Addressing the opposition leaders who converged at his residence, Kharge said all INDIA alliance partners fought well, unitedly and resolutely.

Thanking the INDIA bloc partners, he said, “I welcome all INDIA alliance partners. We fought well, fought unitedly, fought resolutely.”

‘Decisive mandate against Modi’

The Congress chief claimed that it was a decisive mandate against Narendra Modi and his politics, and alleged that the incumbent Prime Minister is “determined to subvert the will of the people”.

“The mandate is decisively against Mr Modi, against him and the substance and style of his politics. It is a huge political loss for him personally apart from being a clear moral defeat as well. However, he is determined to subvert the will of the people,” he said.

Lok Sabha Election Results 2024

On Tuesday, the Lok Sabha elections results threw a major curveball with the BJP falling well short of the majority mark, bagging 240 seats, and unlike 2019, must now rely on its NDA allies to form the government.

However, with support from key allies N Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, and other alliance partners, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the halfway mark.

The NDA has won 293 seats, while the opposition INDIA bloc has 232 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha. A minimum of 272 seats are required to form a government at the Centre.

(With inputs from agencies)