INDIA bloc forms 14-member central coordination committee, announces panels for campaign, media

The bloc, which earlier met in Patna and Bengaluru, held its third meeting in the country’s commercial capital, striving to give a formal shape to the alliance well in time for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The leaders of the participating parties also constituted three other panels-working groups for social media, media, and research.

The Central Coordination Committee includes veteran politician and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and two former Jammu and Kashmir CMs Omar Abdullah (National Conference) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP).

The panel has been conceived to make decisions to streamline the functioning of the pre-election alliance.

The coordination committee members are Sharad Pawar, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, TR Baalu (DMK), TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav (RJD), JD(U) leader Lalan Singh, AAP MP Raghav Chadha, Hemant Soren, Javed Ali Khan (SP), CPI leader D Raja, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti.

The alliance said a member from the CPI-M would be included in the panel after the Marxist party submits a name.

Campaign Committee: Gurdeep Singh Sappal (INC), Sanjay Jha (JD-U), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena-UBT), Sanjay Yadav (RJD), PC Chako (NCP), Champai Soren (JMM), Kiranmoy Nanda (SP), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Arun Kumar (CPI-M), Binoy Vishwam (CPI), Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi (NC), Shahid Siddiqui (RLD), NK Premachandran (RSP), G. Devarajan (AIFB), Ravi Rai (CPI-ML), Thirumavalan (VCK), KM Kadar Moidin (IUML), Jose K. Mani (KC-M). The Trinamool will give a name later.

Working Group for Social Media: Supriya Srinate (INC), Sumit Sharma (RJD), Ashish Yadav (SP), Rajeev Nigam (SP), Raghav Chaddha (AAP), Avindani (JMM), Iltija Mehbooba (PDP), Pranjal (CPI-M), Bhalchandran Kango (CPI), Ifra Ja (NC), V Arun Kumar (CPI-ML). The Trinamool will give a name later.

Working Group for Media: Jairam Ramesh (INC), Manoj Jha (RJD), Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT), Jitendra Ahwad (NCP), Raghav Chaddha (AAP), Rajiv Ranjan (JD-U), Pranjal (CPI-M), Ashish Yadav (SP), Supriyo Bhattacharya (JMM), Alok Kumar (JMM), Manish Kumar (JD-U), Rajeev Nigam (SP), Bhalchandran Kango (CPI), Tanvir Sadiq (NC), Prashant Kannojia, Naren Chatterjee (AIFB), Sucheta De (CPI-ML), Mohit Bhan (PDP). The Trinamool will give a name later.

Working Group for Research: Amitabh Dubey (INC), Subodh Mehta ( RJD), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena-UBT), Vandana Chavan (NCP), KC Tyagi (JD-U), Sudivya Kumar Sonu (JMM), Jasmine Shah (AAP), Alok Ranjan (SP), Imran Nabi Dar (NC), Aditya (PDP). The Trinamool will give a name later.

The bloc resolved to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election together 'as far as possible' and said that seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately.

In a statement issued on the concluding day of the two-day meeting, the alliance said. "We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible. Seat-sharing arrangements in different states will be initiated immediately and concluded at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give-and-take."

The statement read, "We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance.

It said, "We, the INDIA parties, hereby resolve to coordinate our respective communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme Judega Bharat, Jeetega India in different languages."

[With UNI inputs]