At INDIA bloc meeting, Mallikarjun Kharge welcomes ‘all parties with similar values’

June 6, 2024 16 Views No Comment

New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) Amid speculation of the INDIA bloc sending feelers to the Nitish Kumar-led JD-U and the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP, the ‘kingmakers’ of the 2024 polls, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday welcomed ‘all parties with similar values’ in its strategy meet ahead of the next government formation at the Centre.

New Delhi: Congress Chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrives to attend INDIA bloc meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 05, 2024.(IANS)

“The INDIA bloc 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,” Kharge said at the INDIA bloc meeting on Wednesday.

New Delhi: Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi arrive to attend INDIA bloc meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 05, 2024.(IANS/Wasim Sarvar)

In his opening remarks, he also extended congratulations and thanked the INDIA bloc allies for putting up a valiant fight against the BJP-led NDA, saying, “We fought well, fought unitedly, fought resolutely.”

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav and party leader Ram Gopal Yadav arrive to attend INDIA bloc meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 05, 2024.(IANS/Wasim Sarvar)

Kharge also took the opportunity to hit out at Narendra Modi and his style of politics and said the people’s mandate indicates that it was a clear ‘moral defeat’ for him.

“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,” he said.

New Delhi: JMM leader Kalpana Soren arrives to attend INDIA bloc meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 05, 2024.(IANS/Wasim Sarvar)

The INDIA bloc meeting was attended by top Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, K.C. Venugopal.

Party chiefs of many alliance partners including Sharad Pawar, M.K. Stalin, Sitaram Yechury, Champai Soren, Akhilesh Yadav, and Tejashwi Yadav also attended the meeting.

Others who joined the meeting included Supriya Sule, T.R. Balu, Ramgopal Yadav, Abhishek Banerjee, Arvind Sawant, Sanjay Yadav, Sanjay Raut, D. Raja, Kalpana Soren, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Omar Abdullah, Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, P.K. Kunhalikutty, Jose K. Mani, Thiru Thol. Thirumavalavan, N.K. Premachandran, M.H. Jawahirullah, G. Devarajan, Thiru E.R. Eswaran, and D. Ravikumar.