New Delhi: With little time left for Lok Sabha polls, the opposition INDIA bloc parties on Tuesday decided to finalise seat-sharing “as soon as possible” and some leaders proposed Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as the prime ministerial face of the coalition, but the Congress chief said it is important to win first and the leadership issue can then be decided “democratically”.

The opposition alliance also announced countrywide protests on December 22 against the suspension of 141 MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and adopted a resolution demanding 100 percent VVPAT counting as it flagged “concerns” about the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in elections.

At the fourth meeting of the alliance, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal proposed the name of Kharge as PM face, but the veteran leader said it was important to win and increase the opposition’s strength first.

MDMK’s Vaiko and other leaders confirmed that Banerjee and Kejriwal proposed Kharge’s name for the PM face of the alliance so that he could be the country’s first Dalit prime minister.

“We should decide on how to win first. If you don’t have MPs, then what is the use of discussing the prime minister (candidate)? We will first try and win a majority first. We will first try and win unitedly.

“We will first win and then our MPs will decide democratically,” Kharge said at a press conference after the meeting when asked if he was the PM face of the opposition alliance.

Sources said Kharge told the leaders that he never played the politics of being a downtrodden person or as a Dalit and stood for equality as he has fought for it all along.

The sources add that Kharge said that he has been a fighter and not a caste leader. He reportedly told them that he works for the poor and therefore has won continuously for over 50 years. He said he will first strive to defeat Narendra Modi and unitedly take on the BJP.

On seat-sharing, the sources said while the TMC proposed that the arrangement should be finalised by December 31, the Congress said the finalisation on seats be done by the second week of January.

The sources added that it was largely agreed upon that seat-sharing at the state level will be finalised by the end of December and finally at the top leadership level by the second week of January.

They also said that there was no consensus on Kharge’s name for the PM-face of the alliance, but some leaders insisted that they wanted a decision on the convener of the coalition first and said Kharge was a good candidate for the same.

Congress leader K C Venugopal said that seat-sharing talks will begin next week at the state level and will be completed “as soon as possible”.

Addressing the press conference after the meeting, Kharge said, “All INDIA parties unanimously decided how to take the alliance forward. At least 8-10 meetings will be done together across the country.” “If alliance members don’t come on the same stage people will not come to know of the alliance. Everyone agreed to it,” he said.

None of the top leaders, including chief ministers M K Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, were there at the stage during the presser.

However, Kharge was accompanied by Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah, Sitaram Yechury, D Raja and T R Baalu, among others.

The parties in their resolution said that there are “many doubts on the integrity of the functioning of the EVMs” and these have been raised by “many experts and professionals as well”.

“Our suggestion is simple: Instead of the VVPAT slip falling in the box, it should be handed over to the voter who shall then place it in a separate ballot box after having verified his or her choice. 100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips should then be done,” the resolution adopted unanimously at the opposition alliance meeting said.

“This will restore full confidence of the people in free and fair elections,” it further said.

Kharge also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “arrogance” in him after the recent victory in assembly polls, as if they will be in power forever.

“We will first try and win unitedly,” he said, adding that everything would be decided after that.

The Congress president said seat-sharing talks will be held at the state level, and if any issues arise, INDIA bloc leadership will address them.

“Whether Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Bihar, UP, Delhi or Punjab, the issues on seat sharing will be resolved,” he said.

Asked about the prime ministerial face of the alliance, he said, “We have to win first, and think what to do to win. What is the point in discussing PM before having MPs. We will try to get a majority together”.

Kharge also said INDIA parties passed a resolution condemning the suspension of opposition MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and will hold a protest on it on December 22.

The leaders said the MPs merely demanding a statement on the December 13 Parliament security breach and vowed to fight against the “tyranny of this government”, the sources said.

The sources said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray was of the view that only a few leaders relevant to that region will participate in the joint rallies and not all the allies.

The meeting came against the backdrop of Congress suffering reverses in the recent assembly polls, where BJP won in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

This was the fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc leaders, with the first one held in Patna, followed by meetings in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

The meeting was held at the state-run Ashoka Hotel here. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad, DMK’s T R Baalu, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav and CPI’s D Raja were among those present.