New Delhi: Stalin Jr's big claim after Mamata's name floated: INDIA bloc leadership up for new debate?
The question of who leads the INDIA bloc has been reignited following assertions from the DMK leadership and a series of proposals from political figures, including those who’ve been with alliance leader Congress. Tamil Nadu deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin set the stage on Monday, February 23, by pitching his father, chief minister MK Stalin, as a national leader.
Speaking in Coimbatore, Udhayanidhi Stalin asserted, “MK Stalin is a leader who guides not just Tamil Nadu but the entire country. Several opposition leaders across India believe that a democratic battle against the BJP must be led under MK Stalin’s leadership”. These remarks come as the DMK prepares for seat-sharing talks with the Congress, a junior partner for the Tamil Nadu assembly polls.
This push for MK Stalin’s national role follows a proposal for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to take the reins of the alliance.
While Rahul Gandhi is Leader of Opposition, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was made convener of the alliance before the 2024 Lok Sabha election, but equations within the bloc have not remained the same.
Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to Manmohan Singh, recently argued that Banerjee, as a “totally self-made, first-generation leader”, stands apart from her peers. Baru noted that “repeating the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh model with Rahul Gandhi-Mallikarjun Kharge has not helped” in tackling the BJP.
He emphasised the strategic value of a female leader, stating, “an Opposition alliance led by a woman political leader, that too one who symbolises independent womanhood, can make a dent into the BJP’s more recently acquired women’s vote base”. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sagarika Ghose bolstered this claim, describing it as “an idea whose time has come”.
The debate was further complicated by ex-Congressman and former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, who also threw his weight behind the Tamil Nadu CM. Aiyar said on Monday that Stalin is the “best-suited” to be the convenor of the INDIA bloc, asserting that “a smaller partner in the saddle would be a better assurance of alliance unity than a dominant one”.
Aiyar even argued that Stalin’s leadership is essential for Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s future prospects.
“Rahul Gandhi can become the PM of India, provided there is somebody to spend all his time consolidating the INDIA bloc,” Aiyar earlier told news agency ANI. He added that Stalin “has the great virtue that he won’t stand in the way of Rahul Gandhi becoming the PM”. According to Aiyar, with the 2029 general elections as the ultimate goal, “no one is better-suited to lead the INDIA bloc than MK Stalin”.
This advocacy triggered a firestorm within the Congress, which has moved to distance itself from Aiyar and his comments, though it did not address the leadership question as such.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala launched a scathing attack on Aiyar, labeling him a “hired voice” with no standing in the party. “Mani Shankar Aiyar and others like him are people whose time is over. They have no role in this party. They are not part of this party,” Chennithala told news agency PTI.
The friction intensified after Aiyar, during a visit to Kerala, predicted that the CPI(M)-led LDF would retain power in the state against Congress-led UDF.
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