INDIA bloc's Delhi meet to chart social media strategy; plan rallies

The first meeting of the 14-member coordination committee of the INDIA coalition, scheduled to be held at NCP supremo Sharad Pawar’s Delhi residence on Wednesday (September 13), is likely to discuss and approve a calendar of joint rallies by top leaders of the Opposition bloc.

The committee may also give its nod to a joint media and social media campaign that would highlight failures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government while offering glimpses into the Opposition bloc’s still evolving narrative of inclusive development alongside social and communal bonhomie.

However, the high-powered panel, which includes Pawar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, former J&K chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, JD(U) chief Rajeev Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, DMK leader TR Baalu, CPI’s D Raja, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena (UBT) and AAP’s Raghav Chaddha, among others, is unlikely to go beyond “preliminary discussions on a formula for state-wise seat-sharing arrangements” among the coalition’s constituents, The Federal has learnt.

No set agenda

“There is no set agenda for the meeting and we are looking forward to discussing a wide range of issues. The focus, though, will be on the draft suggestions made by the INDIA sub-groups on campaign, social media, media and research since these panels have already completed one or more round of talks since our meeting in Mumbai. On seat-sharing, we do not expect any major breakthrough as it is a tricky area but we may discuss different formulas that can be pursued on a state-to-state basis,” a member of the coordination committee told The Federal.

The resolutions passed by the INDIA bloc leaders during their third conclave in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 had stressed on the need to initiate seat-sharing arrangements in different states “immediately” and conclude these talks “at the earliest in a collaborative spirit of give and take”. The 28-party alliance had also resolved to organise public rallies in different parts of the country “on issues of public concern and importance” and to “coordinate our respective communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme Judega Bharat, Jeetega India in different languages”.

The Mumbai conclave had ended with the setting up of the 14-member coordination committee (the CPM has not yet named its member for the panel) besides a committee for coordinating the alliance’s campaign and three separate working groups to firm up the bloc’s media, social media and research efforts.

The social media sub-group, which includes Congress social media department chief Supriya Shrinate, DMK’s Dayanidhi Maran, AAP’s Raghav Chaddha and PDP’s Iltija Mufti, among others, had held its first meeting in Mumbai immediately after the two-day INDIA conclave concluded.

A meeting of the 21-member campaign committee, which includes Congress’ Gurdeep Sappal, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, NCP’s PC Chacko, CPI’s Binoy Viswam and others, was held in the subsequent week in Delhi. The sub-groups on research and media have also had one round of formal discussions over the past fortnight, sources said.

Trinamool tangle

However, members of the campaign committee and the three sub-groups that The Federal spoke to conceded that though their discussions, so far, had not run into any hurdles, there were “several unresolved issues” on which there was yet to be any substantive dialogue or breakthrough.

A key irritant, a senior leader in the coordination committee, said, was the “attitude of the TMC towards the dialogue process”. The Federal had reported earlier that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s interventions at the Mumbai conclave had largely been obstructionist and she had practically vetoed two key proposals on which most other INDIA constituents had arrived on a consensus. These included the reiteration of the bloc’s demand for a caste census, alongside that for a caste survey at the state level, as part of the political resolution adopted by the coalition in Mumbai and the seemingly more important question of naming a convenor for the alliance.

After the Mumbai conclave, sources said though Banerjee has refrained from making any damaging remark on the alliance’s discussions or its electoral sustainability, except for her disapproval of Udhayanidhi Stalin’s controversial “eradicate Sanatana Dharma” comment, sources said she has not been “fully cooperative” either.

Her decision to name, Abhishek Banerjee, as the TMC nominee on the coordination committee has been viewed by a section of the INDIA leaders as her expression of intent at driving a “very hard bargain” given that her nephew has often been an even more vocal critic of the Congress and Left Front – both INDIA constituents – than herself. While Abhishek was named as member of the coordination committee in Mumbai, Banerjee is yet to name her party’s nominees for the campaign committee and the sub-groups on media, social media and research.

At the Mumbai dialogue, sources said, there was “near unanimity” among the INDIA parties that as a first joint campaign initiative, leaders of the alliance must have a joint rally each in locations spread across the country’s north, south, east and west once the special session of Parliament, convened from September 18 to 22, concludes. A member of the campaign committee, however, told The Federal that though the plan is still “under active consideration”, there has been no final decision in this regard since the alliance is not confident of securing Banerjee’s support in case a call is taken to hold one of these rallies in Bengal as it is felt that she would not want to share the stage in her state with the Left parties.

Seat-sharing riddle

Sources said the Trinamool’s recent victory against the BJP in the prestige bypoll battle in Dhupguri, in which the Congress-backed CPM candidate Iswar Chandra Roy finished a distant third securing just 13758 votes against Trinamool winner Nirmal Chandra Roy’s 97613 votes, could also give Banerjee grounds for demanding that the Congress, if it desires a seat-sharing arrangement with her party, must dump the Left Front as an ally. These complications, sources said, are also likely to stall any breakthrough in finalising the INDIA bloc’s seat-sharing arrangement in Bengal where the Trinamool is seemingly adamant on staking claim to content on a lion’s share of Lok Sabha constituencies citing the lack of grassroots support for Left and Congress members.

Another campaign committee member said that at the Mumbai discussions several leaders were of the view that a preliminary consensus on the formula for state-wise seat-sharing arrangements must be arrived at “within a month” to enable better coordination of the bloc’s Lok Sabha campaign. The member said that with speculations rife about the possibility of the prime minister calling for early Lok Sabha elections, several regional parties in the INDIA bloc which had not fought the previous elections as part of an alliance with the Congress felt that they would need “ample time” to ensure that a seat-sharing arrangement “works on the grassroots and doesn’t remain confined to an understanding between top leaders”.

Sources said the Congress, which is hopeful of retaining power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh while wresting it from the BJP and the BRS in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, respectively, when these states go to polls later this year, “may not be too keen on finalising seat-sharing before these election results are out” as a victory for the party in these major states would “certainly increase Congress’s bargaining power... this would suit the Congress but not the regional parties”.

Navigating ‘minefields’

Another senior INDIA leader said that the discussions that will take place among the coalition’s constituents now, starting with the coordination committee’s meeting at Pawar’s residence on September 13, will have to navigate “many minefields”.

“How our leaders steer these talks and what they ultimately come up with will determine the electoral fortunes of our alliance. We have to take one step at a time but also be mindful that the second step after the first doesn’t take forever. Let us start with joint rallies, joint media and social media campaigns and joint floor strategy for the upcoming special Parliament session, which anyway we have been doing for last few Parliament session, because it is easier to have a consensus on these issues... seat sharing will be tricky but we have to confront it at some point, and hopefully sooner than later,” this leader said.