I.N.D.I.A mulls joint rallies in Lucknow, Bhopal & Jaipur, set to meet on Sept 12

After deciding to hold five joint rallies with a single theme in the near future, the Opposition I.N.D.I.A will be meeting to decide on holding similar programmes in Lucknow, Bhopal and Jaipur to double down its campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha elections slated for next year.

Sources said that the 21-member campaign committee formed during the I.N.D.I.A meeting in Mumbai will get together on Tuesday for the second time to finalise the plans for the rallies. This comes after suggestions came that programmes should be held in Uttar Pradesh as well as poll-bound states.

At the first meeting held at DMK MP Tiruchi Siva’s residence on September 6, sources said the campaign committee gave final touches to the decision to hold rallies at the earliest.

As suggested in the Mumbai meet, public rallies will be held in Patna, Nagpur, Chennai, Guwahati and Delhi on issues of “public concern and importance”. 

Sources said the campaign committee has suggested that the first meeting be held in Patna on the theme of caste census, as the bloc believes that foregrounding backward class politics is the best antidote to BJP’s Hindutva politics. 

However, it is to be seen how Trinamool Congress reacts to this, as it has reservations about caste census. Trinamool’s stand is that it is not against caste census as long as it does not drag religion into it. Party chief Mamata Banerjee appeared not keen when the issue was raised in the Mumbai meet.

By choosing Nagpur as another venue, sources said, I.N.D.I.A also wants to showcase that it is willing to take the Hindutva forces at its den, the RSS headquarters, in order to highlight its commitment to secularism. Guwahati is chosen to represent the northeast where the bloc plans tohighlight the plight of Manipur and other states.

The Chennai rally will focus on state-centre relations and federalism while the Delhi programme will focus on economic issues. Sources said while  these rallies are theme-based, there is no bar on raising other issues.

At the first meeting, sources said, the panel members also considered holding rallies in Lucknow as well as Jaipur and Bhopal. No decision was made at the first meeting, since they wanted to consult the principal parties in these states – Samajwadi Party in UP and Congress in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh – before finalising anything.

The I.N.D.I.A bloc is also moving forward to bring a ‘vision document’ on October 2, which will outline the broad contours of the I.N.D.I.A agenda. Sources said it would not be a bulky document but “pointers” where issues are identified. The 11-member Working Group on Research has been asked to provide data for preparing the vision document.