Leaders of the Opposition bloc INDIA have reached Mumbai to meet at a two-day conclave starting today. The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress has formed several committees to plan various aspects of the meeting of the opposition grouping.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar said as many as 63 representatives from 28 political parties would be attending the third meeting of the INDIA alliance on August 31 and September 1. The INDIA bloc’s first meeting was held in Patna in June, while the second one took place in Bengaluru in mid-July. The Bengaluru conclave had finalised the name of the alliance — Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), approving the proposal first mooted reportedly by Rahul Gandhi.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said that seat sharing in INDIA would be done as per the standing of the parties in different states. Nana Patole said that a discussion on this would be held in upcoming meetings.
The alliance is likely to announce a coordination committee, a logo, and panels to draft a common minimum programme of the alliance. The agenda also includes setting up a secretariat, to enhance the coordination between all the member parties. It is also speculated that more regional outfits will be joining the alliance during the two-day meeting.
Calling the INDIA alliance meeting a “historic day”, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “We will rise like the Sun in 2024.”
Even as the new alliance has proclaimed ‘defeating the BJP’ as its prime objective, the BJP has called it ‘ghamandia meeting’.
The list of the attendees in the third meet includes Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, among others.
Notably, a parallel two-day meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP is also to be held in Mumbai on Thursday.
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