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BIG STORY JANUARY 12, 2024 | The Indian Eye 6

generated by the Bharat Jodo Yatra tween Congress and the Shiv Sena
and the transformation it brought to (UBT) over seat sharing.
Indian politics, needed to be carried “There is no confusion internal-
forward. “The Yatra will start from ly. There was a meeting between So-
Imphal on January 14 and will con- nia Gandhi, Uddhav Thackeray and
clude in Mumbai on March 20 or 21. Sharad Pawar in Delhi 15 days ago. A
It will cover a distance of 6,713 kilo- lot of things about seat sharing were
meters, mostly by bus. Rahul Gandhi clarified in that meeting. The infor-
will also walk on some stretches along mation will be officially announced
the Yatra route. In the 15 states, it in the next 8-10 days,” Sule told re-
will cover 100 Lok Sabha constitu- porters on Monday.
encies and 337 assembly segments “There will be ups and downs in
involving 110 districts,” he said. the seat-sharing formula as we are in
Referring to the theme ‘Nyay’ of alliance, so this will happen,” Sule
the ‘Yatra’ he said, it had been drawn said.
from the Constitution, which, in the When asked about the role of
Preamble, speaks for ‘Justice’ includ- Prakash Ambedkar in the INDIA
ing social, economic and political jus- bloc, she said that he will definitely
tice for the people of the country. play an important role in the alli-
“The ‘Nyay Yatra’ will spend ance. Earlier, former Lok Sabha MP
a maximum of eleven days in Uttar Prime Minister Modi’s popularity across the country is the biggest challenge Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson
Pradesh where it will travel a distance for the Congress (ANI) of Dr BR Ambedkar, reiterated his
of 1,074 kilometers, covering 20 dis- interest in joining the MVA and IN-
tricts. The 15 states that will be cov- Thursday took a swipe at the Trina- stituencies are already with the Con- DIA alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha
ered by the ‘Nyay-Yatra’ include Ma- mool Congress, blaming the ruling gress and his party was quite capable elections in 2024.
nipur, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal party in the state for the lack of prog- of retaining them in the polls that are Emphasizing that ‘defeating
Pradesh, Meghalaya, West Bengal, ress in seat-sharing talks. likely to be scheduled in the summer. Modi should be the only priority for
Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhat- Further opening up fissures in A key constituent of the INDIA MVA’, Prakash Ambedkar in his let-
tisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya the Opposition bloc at a time when bloc, the TMC has reportedly pro- ter mentioned that the “VBA desires
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and divergent voices over seat-sharing posed 2 seats for the Congress to that the parties within the MVA- Shiv
Maharashtra,” he added. have come to the fore, Congress MP contest in the general elections. In a Sena (Uddhav Thackeray), National-
With this move – planned on the and the party’s West Bengal chief further dig at the ruling party in the ist Congress Party, Indian National
lines of Bharat Jodo Yatra last year Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Thurs- state, Adhir said he needed no favor Congress and VBA should fight the
– the Congress is expecting to dent day hit out at TMC Supremo and from the TMC as his party was quite upcoming Lok Sabha elections to-
Modi’s image across the country Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, capable of going solo in the state. gether and on an equal number of
while promoting its own narrative. voice doubts over her intent to go But Nationalist Congress Party seats as equal partners.”
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge into a seat allotment with the grand MP Supriya Sule has ruled out any in- Amid debate and discussion in
on Thursday took a dig at the Modi old party in the state. ternal confusion on the over-the-seat the MVA over seat sharing between
government and said that it had “not Addressing a press conference sharing issue for the 2024 Lok Sabha parties of the Maha Vikas Aghadi
done anything in the last ten years in the Murshidabad district of West elections, saying that a lot of things (MVA), the Shiv Sena (UBT) has
which could be termed as a mile- Bengal on Thursday, Adhir also about seat sharing were clarified in a demanded 23 seats out of the 48 Lok
stone”. “Politics of arrogance and scoffed at Mamata’s rumored offer meeting between Sonia Gandhi, Ud- Sabha seats in Maharashtra.
lies comes with an expiry date”, he of 2 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats dhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. In the national capital, Aam
said while referring to the BJP gov- to the Congress, saying those con- This comes amid a tug-of-war be- Aadmi Party (AAP) national conve-
ernment at the Centre. ner and Delhi chief minister Arvind
Kharge recalled how under the Kejriwal on Sunday spelled out his
leadership of Sonia Gandhi, the party’s vision to expand organization
United Progressive Alliance defeat- across the country and declared that
ed the BJP led National Democrat- the party would fiercely campaign for
ic Alliance 20 years ago, in 2004. elections and secure all the seats as a
He said at that time every worker member of the INDIA bloc.
across the country had worked hard Speaking at the virtual meeting
to defeat the NDA and now time of the National Council and National
has come when the workers need to Executive of the Aam Aadmi Party,
work with the same zeal and dedi- Kejriwal said, “AAP will form its or-
cation once again. Kharge said time ganization in the entire country be-
has come for the “same dedication, cause, without a strong organization,
commitment, zeal and hard work” it cannot win elections.”
to ensure the party’s victory in 2024 “AAP is part of the INDIA bloc,
general elections. we will contest elections strongly on
While Congress is trying hard whatever seats we get and will win all
to make the INDIA bloc challenge the seats,” added the party chief.
the BJP-led NDA, it is facing a lot of While the Congress party tries to
challenges. Sending out tell-tale hints solidify its presence across the coun-
of a further deepening of cracks in try, many of its alliance partners want
the Opposition bloc -- INDIA -- as All is now well between the Congress party and its INDIA bloc partners to do the same. This could be the big-
the Lok Sabha elections near, the like Mamata Banerjee of TMC (ANI) gest challenge for the party as it pre-
West Bengal unit of the Congress on pares for the battle of its life in 2024.

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