Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh has said that the Congress has finalized seat sharing agreement with all parties of INDIA Bloc except for those in West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.
The Congress leader made the remark while addressing a press conference in Madhya Pradesh’s Shajapur district on Tuesday when he arrived here with the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Upon being asked about INDIA alliance’s preparation for Lok Sabha polls, the congress leader said “INDIA alliance started in Patna on June 23, last year. After that, the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18. The third meeting of the alliance was held in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 and the fourth meeting was held in Delhi on December 19 last year. There were a total of 28 parties in the alliance. After the formation of the INDIA alliance, suddenly the Prime Minister tried to revive the dead NDA alliance. We would be aware that when the India alliance was announced, the talk of NDA had started. Where does NDA come from? Take out two ‘I’ from INDIA, Imandari (honesty) and Insaniyat (humanity) and it becomes NDA.”
Jairam Ramesh further said that some more parties might join the alliance in Maharashtra. He added that talks for seat sharing agreement in Jammu and Kashmir are underway. The comments came as the grand old party released seat-sharing agreements in multiple states and UTs including New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc.
When asked whether Congress is in touch with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Jairam Ramesh said that the party was hopeful that some middle path would be worked out and were trying their best. Recently an apparent conflict was witnessed between Trinamool Congress and Congress with TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee attacking the party for appeasing left parties.