The INDIA bloc is scheduled to hold a meeting on December 19. This comes after an earlier meeting scheduled for December 6 was called off. The parties are likely to discuss seat sharing arrangements for next year’s Lok Sabha elections and also take up joint programmes for the partners.
New Delhi: The fourth meeting of the INDIA bloc will be held on December 19, the Congress announced. Party spokesperson and senior leader Jairam Ramesh took to social media platform ‘X’ to make the announcement. This meeting is scheduled for 3 pm on the given date.
Earlier meeting of INDIA called off
One must note that an earlier meeting of the opposition alliance was called off after at least 2 leaders expressed their inability to attend the meeting. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav had refused to attend the meeting scheduled for December 6. While Banerjee had cited prior commitments as the reason for giving the event a miss, Yadav’s party had refused to divulge details about his non-attendance. They had only said that they were not informed about the meeting in advance.
The meeting had been called right after the Congress party suffered a drubbing in the Assembly Elections and lost power in 2 states, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The party also failed to offer any challenge to the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh.
Leaders likely to attend
The meeting is expected to focus upon evolving a “core positive agenda”, discuss seat sharing arrangements for the 2024 General Elections and hold joint programmes for the partners. Sources quoted by the Times of India said that 26 opposition parties are likely to take part in the meeting.
The leaders likely to attend are Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin. Banerjee will be in Delhi from December 17 to 19 and has also sought an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is believed that the agenda of the Opposition meeting will be focused upon unity. A slogan ‘Main nahi Hum’ is likely to form the base for this meeting. Through this slogan the Opposition wants to show that it is running a joint and united campaign, unlike BJP’s PM Modi-centered campaign. It also wants to counter the view that Congress is unilaterally leading the INDIA bloc.