Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday informed that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc will start deliberating on the seat sharing process soon and also hold a joint protest on December 22 across the country against the recent suspension of Opposition MPs from both Houses of Parliament.

He further stressed that the first priority of INDIA bloc is to win Lok Sabha polls next year adding that any decision on the prime ministerial face of the alliance will be taken after polls.

These decisions were taken at the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc in the national capital in which 28 political parties participated. The meeting lasted for two to three hours.

This was the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc, which was attended by Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Farooq Abdullah, Nitish Kumar, Rajiv Ranjan, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, MK Stalin, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav.

Addressing a press conference at the conclusion of the meeting of the INDIA bloc here, Kharge said, “Our first priority is to win (elections). We will think about winning before deciding the name of the Prime Minister. If there will be no MPs, it makes no sense talking about the Prime Minister. We will work unitedly to win a majority first.”

Condemning the recent suspension of Opposition MPs from both Houses of Parliament, the Congress president said INDIA bloc will hold a protest against the suspension of MPs on December 22 across the country.

The Congress president said the recent suspension of 141 Opposition MPs was also discussed in the meeting.

“We will fight against this, this is wrong. We have united to fight against this. We have decided to hold a protest against the suspension of MPs on 22nd December,” he said.

He said the meeting condemned this act of the BJP government and passed a resolution stating that this is undemocratic.

“This is against democracy. To save democracy. We will have to unitedly fight and all are ready for this fight,” he said.

“A resolution was also passed against the BJP government for suspending the MPs in an undemocratic manner. If we need to save the country and democracy then we need to fight together,” Kharge said.

He said that the issue (Parliament security breach) which we raised in the House is not a wrong issue.

“The issue is about two people entering the chamber. Who brought them? How did they manage to run across the chamber? We are only saying that the Prime Minister and Home Minister should come to Parliament and inform the House about what happened in the Parliament but they didn’t agree to our demands,” Kharge said.

On the issue of seat sharing, Kharge said all the people of INDIA bloc will work together on seat sharing and all the issues will be resolved.

“We will work together on the seat sharing. The state leaders will first discuss the seat sharing. If there will be any hiccups among the state leaders then we will discuss it in Delhi,” Kharge said.

“Today was the fourth meeting that took place in Delhi. In the meeting, 28 parties participated. All leaders presented their views and suggestions. Everyone unanimously decided to take forward the work of the INDIA bloc,” Kharge said.

“If all of us do not come together on a stage, then people will not identify the alliance and thus it was decided we will hold eight to ten meetings across the country,” Kharge said.

Even as the leaders of 28 Opposition parties came together for the fourth meeting of INDIA bloc, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed the Congress president’s name for the prime ministerial candidate for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

According to sources, Mamata Banerjee’s proposal for the bloc’s prime ministerial candidate was also endorsed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

However, sources said that Kharge asked the leaders to first focus on winning more seats in the 2024 General Elections and bringing the INDIA bloc to power. He also added that he had already got many posts during his lifetime and everyone should first focus on winning. Everyone agreed to his demands.

After the meeting, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal said: “The meeting was good. Now, seat sharing and campaigns will start.”

On being asked if any decision was taken on the convener of the INDIA bloc, he said that no decision has been taken in this regard.