A two-day meeting of the opposition alliance ‘INDIA’, formed to challenge the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, will be held in Mumbai from today. In this, apart from deciding the name of the coordinator of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the coordination committee is expected to be formed.
Prior to this meeting, there was a competition among the parties involved in the opposition alliance to stake claim for the post of PM. After Congress, JDU and Trinamool, SP, Shiv Sena-UBT and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have also staked claim for the post of PM. However, the main leaders of the alliance have tried to avoid this issue for the time being. At the same time, AAP has clarified that Arvind Kejriwal has no such aspiration. Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also dismissed questions related to the PM’s post, saying that the alliance is the face of the PM’s post.
28 parties will participate in the opposition unity meeting. Apart from the leader of the alliance, the coordinator and the coordination committee, the 450 seats selected under the formula of ‘one seat one candidate’ can be discussed in the meeting. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge is said to be the frontrunner in the race for the post of coalition leader.
On Wednesday, a day before the INDIA Alliance meeting, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar targeted the BJP and said that the opposition alliance will bring political change in the country. He said that there has been no discussion on seat sharing in ‘INDIA’. We will take the alliance forward under the Common Minimum Programme. Pawar expressed confidence that the opposition alliance would provide a strong alternative to bring about political change.
At the same time, Uddhav Thackeray said that we have united to save democracy in the country. Even though our ideologies are different, our objective is one, to protect democracy. We are against dictatorship and rhetoric.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that if the opposition parties fight together, the INDIA Alliance will win the elections. In 2019, non-BJP parties got 23 crore votes, while BJP got 22 crore votes.
