Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha on Sunday said that it is up to Congress to decide on alliance with the party after Punjab’s Congress unit raised objection to an alliance amid the ongoing attempt of leaders for a united front against BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabah elections.

Raghav Chadha while talking to ANI said, “Congress and only the Congress has to take a decision on it. Who are we to instruct them on this? But I was present in the meeting that took place in Bangalore. There, all the opposition public representatives were of the same opinion that we have to come together to save the country, bypassing these three important words, personal ambition, differences and differences.” The young leader raised the issues of inflation and unemployment and emphasise to remove the ruling government.

He added, “Today the country is struggling with inflation and unemployment. The country is trying to avoid the onslaught of an incompetent and merciless government. That’s why we all have come together to save the country. The same happened in 1977, even today the same dictatorial government is ruling the country and it has to be removed.”

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress President Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has called the inclusion of AAP in alliance ‘INDIA’, ‘unacceptable’. He alleged that AAP has targeted his party leaders and one of his leaders, OP Soni was forcibly put in Jail.

Moreover, Punjab LoP and Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said, “Punjab Congress unit is completely against this (forming an alliance with AAP)… I will meet Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday and will request him to not forge an alliance with them (AAP). We were not in alliance with them in past and will not be in future also.”

The Opposition alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls has been named INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance).

Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the main opposition Congress party, said INDIA stood for the “Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance”. The development came as top leaders of 26 Opposition parties from across the country met in Bengaluru on Tuesday to discuss a united strategy to take on the ruling NDA alliance at the Centre, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The 26 parties resolved to “safeguard the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution”. Leaders of twenty-six opposition parties, who met in Bengaluru on Tuesday, accused the BJP of systematically assaulting the “character of our republic” and expressed their steadfast resolve to “safeguard the idea of India”.

The Samuhik Sankalp of 26 political parties belonging to I.N.D.I.A, alleged that the pillars of the Indian Constitution “are being methodically and menacingly undermined”.

“We, the leaders of India’s 26 progressive parties, express our steadfast resolve to safeguard the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution. The character of our republic is being severely assaulted in a systematic manner by the BJP. We are at a most crucial juncture in our nation’s history. The foundational pillars of the Indian Constitution – secular democracy, economic sovereignty, social justice and federalism – are being methodically and menacingly undermined,” the Samuhik Sankalp statement said. (