Next meeting of I.N.D.I.A alliance on August 25-26 in Mumbai

The third meeting of the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance – a mega front of 26 opposition parties - will be held in Mumbai on August 25-26, sources said.

The meeting will be hosted by the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar wherein names for the coordination committee and other panels will be decided.

Quoting sources, the Deccan Herald claimed that a joint rally may be organized after the meeting. However, a final decision will be taken after the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge after the Bengaluru meeting on July 18 had said, “An 11-member coordination committee will be set up in Mumbai. A central secretariat will also be set up for campaign management and joint rallies and action there. The secretariat will work out of Delhi.”

Representatives of all parties will be part included in the 11-member coordination committee.

Besides deciding on electoral and political strategy for the INDIA alliance, the committee will take a call on the joint rallies and seat sharing.

This will be the third meeting of the INDIA to be held in the last three months. The first meeting was held in Patna on June 23 and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18. It is important to note that while 15 parties joined the Patna meeting, the number of parties rose to 26 in the Bengaluru meeting. The alliance has held its first joint protest against the Modi government in Parliament over the Manipur violence.

Accusing the Modi government of assaulting the character of the republic,  the new opposition alliance, in its Bengaluru meeting, had vowed to “safeguard the idea of India as enshrined in the Constitution.”

“We are setting aside our political differences to save democracy. The main aim is to stand together to safeguard democracy and the constitution,” Kharge had said.

Along with the Congress, the new INDIA alliance includes an array of powerful regional parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (United) JDU.

In a recent statement, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi called the 2024 Lok Sabha election as “a fight between Narendra Modi and INDIA” front.