Janata Dal-United (JDU) chief Sunil Kumar Pintu took a jibe on the the opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Wednesday saying that the fourth assembly of the alliance was simply restricted to tea and biscuits and concluded with none dialogue on any critical subject.

Read right here: Friction emerges in INDIA bloc amid push for Mallikarjun Kharge as PM’s face

“In the meeting yesterday, big leaders of several parties had come for sharing in the alliance. But no discussion on the same could be done. Yesterday’s meeting was restricted to tea biscuits,” Pintu mentioned to information company ANI.

Taking a dig over the grand outdated celebration’s statements that they’re brief on funds, the JDU MP mentioned that the celebration doesn’t even have cash to rearrange for samosas.

“Congress had recently said that they are short on funds and are seeking donations of ₹138, ₹1380 or ₹13,800. The donations are yet to come in. So, yesterday’s meeting finished on just tea and biscuits without samosa and without any discussion on any serious issue,” he mentioned.

Responding to Mamata Banerjee’s proposal of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s title because the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate, Pintu mentioned that it’s Banerjee’s “personal opinion”. However, he talked about that that there’s “a strong desire among Bihar’s party workers and residents for state chief minister Nitish Kumar to assume the prime ministerial role”.

Reacting to the JDU chief’s comment, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya mentioned that comparable complaints will proceed till Nitish Kuamr is asserted because the PM candidate.

“Nitish Kumar’s MPs are disappointed due to absence of samosa in INDI alliance meeting. Said, no serious issue was discussed. Until Nitish Kumar is declared the Prime Ministerial candidate of the alliance, similar complaints will continue,” he said in a post on X.

There were some reports which claimed that Nitish Kumar was “unhappy” over the proposal of Kharge’s name as the PM candidate. However, the Congress dismissed the reports saying that the meeting was concluded on a “good note”.

“The meeting went on for five to six hours. The meeting was crucial and effective. It was concluded on a good note. If some media reports are claiming that Nitish Kumarji was unhappy over the meeting, there might be some ‘vested interest’ but I reckon that he is the convener of the alliance and he will make it reach its destination”, Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir said.

Interestingly, Nitish Kumar was the one who took the initiative to bring the opposition parties together to put up a united challenge against the BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, Kumar had denied any prime ministerial ambitions.

28 opposition parties participated in the fourth meeting of the alliance in Delhi where Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal proposed Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate saying he can be the country’s “first Dalit prime minister”.

Read right here: NDA leaders on ‘Kharge as PM’ call: ‘Trap to oust Rahul Gandhi’

Kharge whereas reacting to the suggestion, he mentioned that the difficulty can be determined later and their first precedence is to attempt to get a majority by working collectively.

“First, all of us must win, we should always take into consideration what must be achieved for victory. Who can be PM, this can be determined later. If there are much less MPs, what’s the level of speaking about PM. First, to extend our numbers, (by) coming collectively, we’ll attempt to convey majority. First we’ll attempt to win,” he mentioned.

The alliance in its meeting passed a resolution on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the suspension of MPs from Parliament. It also decided to hold eight to ten joint rallies at the earliest to show the people of the country that they are united.

(With inputs from ANI)