New Delhi. The next meeting of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (India),(India’) a coalition of 26 opposition parties, may now be held in Mumbai in the first week of September instead of August 25 and 26, as some leaders have canceled their busy schedules on the earlier scheduled dates. Citing, has expressed his inability to reach the meeting. Sources say that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will go on a tour of Maharashtra from mid-August. He is among those leaders who will be unavailable for the next month. The NCP recently split into two factions. The other faction is headed by Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar.
“The August 25-26 dates for the meeting are still under consideration, but we are looking at more dates to ensure that everyone is available,” said a senior leader of the ‘India’ alliance in Mumbai. In a press conference after the meeting of ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ (MVA), Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President Nana Patole had said that several public meetings of MVA leaders were proposed in August, which could not be held due to the monsoon session. MVA constituents Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT) will meet again next Saturday.
Meeting in non ruling state for the first time
This will be the first time that the meeting of constituent parties of ‘India’ is going to be held in a state where none of these parties is in power. The first meeting of opposition parties was organized on 23 June in Patna by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his party Janata Dal United. The second meeting was held in Bengaluru on 17–18 July and was hosted by the ruling Congress in Karnataka.
Why is the ‘India’ alliance meeting special in Mumbai?
The Mumbai meeting will also be important in the sense that a decision can be taken on the name of a coordinator of this alliance and a coordination committee can also be formed. Along with this, in this meeting, a framework can also be prepared in the context of coordination of seats for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On July 18, the 26 parties of the opposition had announced a new alliance named ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (India)’, while laying the electoral board for the next Lok Sabha elections. He had said that this ‘India’ would defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024.
These leaders attended the last meeting
Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former president Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar chief minister and top Janata Dal (U) leaders were present in the meeting. Nitish Kumar, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and a few others The leaders attended this meeting.