The fourth meeting of the Opposition INDIA alliance will be held on December 19 in New Delhi, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is a coalition of 28 opposition parties that plans to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The first meeting of the alliance was held in Patna on June 23, the second in Bengaluru on June 17 and 18 and the third in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.
On December 3, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called on the bloc leaders to meet on December 6 as the BJP swept Assembly polls in three states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
However, the meeting had to be rescheduled after several top leaders expressed their inability to attend. Leaders of several parties of the alliance also said that the Congress – which has seen itself as the dominant outfit in the alliance – needs to be more accommodating in the lead-up to the national elections.
Due to this, the Congress has decided to work on the theme of “Main nahi, hum”, or “not I, but we”, in the next meeting, reported PTI.
After Kharge’s last call for the meet, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was unaware of the development. “That’s why I have already scheduled a programme in North Bengal...” she said. “Had I known, would I have kept this programme? I would have surely gone for [the meeting]. But because we have no information…”
Referring to the BJP’s Assembly poll victories in three states, Banerjee said that the party won by thin margins “because of a split in [Opposition] votes” and “that there should have been proper seat sharing” to avoid this outcome.
A Samajwadi Party spokesperson had said that Akhilesh Yadav has “no plans” to attend the meeting.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Stalin had conveyed to the Congress leadership that he would not attend the December 6 meeting as his government was engaged in coordinating relief efforts after Cyclone Michaung wreaked havoc in the state.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had also said that his busy schedule would not allow him to attend the meeting.
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