Boycotting News Anchors, Public Meetings: Key Decisions in INDIA Panel Meeting

The 14-member coordination committee of the INDIA Opposition bloc held its first meeting at the New Delhi residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and decided to determine seat sharing at the earliest and hold public meetings highlighting the failures of the Narendra Modi government.

Addressing the media, Congress leader KC Venugopal announced that the first public meeting will be held in Bhopal.

The meeting was attended by 12 of the 14 members of the committee.

What were the key decisions made?:

• The coordination committee decided to start the process of determining seat-sharing for which the member parties will hold talks and decide at the earliest.

• The committee decided to hold joint public meetings in different parts of the country. The first public meeting will be held at Bhopal in the first week of October on the issue of rising prices, unemployment, and corruption of the BJP government.

• The parties present in the meeting decided to take up the issue of the "sub group of media to decide upon the names of the anchors in whose shows none of the INDIA parties will send their representatives," Venugopal said.

These anchors include:

• Aditi Tyagi (Bharat Express)

• Aman Chopra (Network 18)

• Amish Devgan (News18)

• Anand Narasimhan (CNN-News18)

• Arnab Goswami (Republic TV)

• Ashok Shrivastav (DD News)

• Chitra Tripathi (AajTak)

• Gaurav Sawant (AajTak)

• Navika Kumar (Times Now/Times Now Navbharat)

• Prachi Parashar (India TV)

• Rubika Liyaquat (Bharat 24)

• Shiv Aroor (AajTak)

• Sudhir Chaudhary (AajTak)

• Sushant Sinha (Times Now Navbharat)

Who all attended the meeting?: The meeting was attended by KC Venugopal (Congress), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Raghav Chaddha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), D Raja (CPI), Sitaram Yechury (CPI(M)), and Omar Abdullah (National Conference).

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee skipped the meet as he was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday to be questioned by the central probe agency in connection with the West Bengal land-for-job scam.

"Shri Abhishek Banerjee could not attend the meeting due to summons by the ED arising out of the vendetta politics of the BJP and the Prime Minister," Venugopal said.

The meeting came days after the alliance met in Mumbai and announced the formation of the committee.

INDIA alliance puts up united front: Before leaving for Pawar's residence, Yechury said that consultations and meetings will keep happening and that secular forces have to work together

"When we share the stage, we shake hands and connect with our hearts. Why will seat sharing not happen? Situation is different in every state, so sharing will be done accordingly," he said.

AAP leaders Saurabh Bhardwaj said that Opposition parties governing around 12 states holding frequent meetings is a big matter for the country.

"Several attempts were made to create a rift between them but they are together positively with one aim - form a government in India that will work for the welfare of the poor. I think all the parties will come up with a formula and on that basis, or on the basis of prior experience, there will be seat sharing," he told news agency ANI.

What the BJP said on the meeting: Addressing the media in Delhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra called it a "meeting of the AHCC (Anti-Hindu Coordination Committee).

"This is not a meeting of campaign or seat sharing. Their only aim is to abolish Hinduism. The meeting is to discuss that. They called Hinduism dengue and malaria, corona, leprosy, and AIDS. They compare Hinduism with such diseases. They called it a world menace," Patra said in the backdrop of the controversy over DMK leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks on Sanatana Dharm.

Patra also claimed that the parties of the Opposition alliance are completely divided.