Janata Dal-United (JDU) leader Sunil Kumar Pintu took a jibe at the the opposition’s Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Wednesday saying that the fourth meeting of the alliance was just restricted to tea and biscuits and concluded without any discussion on any serious issue.

Read 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 said to news agency ANI.

Taking a dig over the grand old party’s statements that they are short on funds, the JDU MP said that the party does not even have money to arrange 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 said.

Responding to Mamata Banerjee’s proposal of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate, Pintu said that it is Banerjee’s “personal opinion”. However, he mentioned that that there is “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 leader’s remark, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said that similar complaints will continue until Nitish Kuamr is declared as 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 here: NDA leaders on ‘Kharge as PM’ call: ‘Trap to oust Rahul Gandhi’

Kharge while reacting to the suggestion, he said that the issue will be decided later and their first priority is to try and get a majority by working together.

“First, all of us have to win, we should think about what needs to be done for victory. Who will be PM, this will be decided later. If there are less MPs, what is the point of talking about PM. First, to increase our numbers, (by) coming together, we will try to bring majority. First we will try to win,” he said.

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)