Opposition’s INDIA bloc meeting today to discuss seat sharing

New Delhi [India]: The combined opposition INDIA alliance will hold its fourth meeting in Delhi today.

Alliance leaders like Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Samajwadi Pary chief Akhilesh Yadav have arrived in the capital for the critical meeting.

Ahead of the meeting there is a question mark on who will lead the alliance should they decide on contesting the 2024 election as a unified force. In its editorial Saamna the mouthpiece of UBT Sena in Maharashtra said ” Who is the face of the INDIA alliance in 2024? Who is the one infront of Narendra Modi? These questions will have to be answered. The ‘India’ alliance needs a coordinator, needs a face.

The Congress should understand that ‘a hundred cooks spoil the taste of food’. If the Congress party has to defeat BJP then it will have to discuss these two issues with its friends and take a decision.”

During the meeting, seat-sharing discussions are likely to be on the agendas of various parties.

Aam Admi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Minister Atishi said, “In the meeting today important points like like seat-sharing and others will be discussed. AAP and Arvind Kejriwal will make every possible effort to make INDIA alliance a success.”

Manoj Pandey, spokesperson of ruling government in Jharkhand led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) told ANI that Chief Minister Hemant Soren will not be attending the meeting.

“The ongoing Assembly session is an important one and the CM (Hemant Soren) must be present for it. The party has appointed a high-level representative panel, including 2 MPs who will attend the meeting and keep the party’s stand before the alliance.”

In a sarcastic post on its official social media account, the BJP wrote, “What will happen in the INDI Alliance meeting today? Watch this trailer.”

Lashing out at the Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Admi Party National Convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, the BJP further wrote in its post, “Watch the dark exploits of the arrogant Alliance in episode 3, How Arvind Kejriwal made the country’s capital a gas chamber and how the people of Delhi are paying the price for Kejriwal’s false promises.”

The party took pot shots at the Opposition by sharing a clip of a Hindi movie and a video featuring key leaders of the ruling AAP.

Seat sharing for the Lok Sabha polls, which are just a few months away, is likely to be at the top of the agenda for the next INDIA bloc meeting and will be crucial for Congress, particularly as the party lost the recent Assembly elections in the Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

During the recently held State Assembly elections, the Congress and Samajwadi Party, the primary opposition party in Uttar Pradesh, could not reach an agreement on seat sharing and fought the elections separately.

The first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. The third meeting happened in Mumbai on August 31-September 1.

INDIA or ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ is a group of opposition parties, including the Congress. The parties have come together to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the Mumbai meeting, the opposition parties adopted resolutions to collectively contest the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections while announcing that seat-sharing arrangements would be finalized as soon as possible through a spirit of give-and-take.

The theme chosen by the INDIA bloc for the elections is “Judega Bharat, Jeetega India” (India will unite, India will win) to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government.