After Assembly Poll Debacle, INDIA Bloc To Chalk Out 2024 Election Roadmap In Key Meet Today

New Delhi: The INDIA bloc, a coalition of opposition parties, is set to meet on Tuesday to discuss a roadmap for a united campaign, seat distribution and a revised strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections. The meeting comes after the opposition suffered a major blow in the recent state elections. The INDIA bloc also faces the challenge of evolving a "core positive agenda" that can appeal to the voters. A senior Congress leader said that the opposition parties aim to adopt the theme of "Main Nahin, Hum (We, Not Me)" at the meeting.

On the eve of the meeting, which will take place at the Ashoka Hotel here at 3 pm, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said that the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc will be decided after the 2024 polls. She expressed confidence that the alliance will sort out all the issues and defeat the BJP. She brushed aside the suggestions that the alliance has wasted time in getting its act together, saying, "It is better late than never."

She also said that she was hopeful of a three-way alliance between her party, the Congress and the Left in West Bengal. She said that the BJP was not strong, but the opposition was weak. "We need to work together to overcome it," she said to the reporters here, when asked about the BJP's growing clout, especially in the Hindi belt. She said that she did not differentiate between the Hindi belt and other regions. She also mocked the BJP's claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return for a third term, saying 2024 was not a foregone conclusion.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who interacted with the reporters here on Monday, said that the committees of the INDIA bloc that were formed earlier have been working in the background and preparing for the polls. He said that everyone in the opposition will contribute and asserted that regional parties were very strong. "Wherever there are regional parties, the BJP is nowhere to be seen. Most of the regional parties are in the INDIA bloc," the RJD leader said.

When asked about the role of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the INDIA bloc, he said that everyone had the same role and the same objective, which was to oust the divisive forces from power. JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray reached the national capital on Monday evening for the bloc's meeting. The main challenge for the leaders of various opposition parties is to come up with an alternative common programme to counter the ruling regime.

The immediate task is to build a consensus on having a convener, a spokesperson and a common secretariat, as it is a difficult issue due to differences among the INDIA bloc members. The recent landslide victory of the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has also increased the pressure on the opposition parties to present a united front.

Sources said that some parties like the Samajwadi Party and the DMK are likely to finalise their seat-sharing with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. However, West Bengal, Kerala, Punjab and Delhi remain bone of contention among the alliance partners, as none are willing to compromise. With issues such as the caste survey apparently not resonating with the voters during the state polls, the leaders of the INDIA bloc may have to rethink their strategy.

The opposition parties, including the Congress, had made the caste survey issue a major plank in the recent state polls, which were seen as the semi-finals before the general elections. Also, plans for joint rallies by the opposition will have to be finalised soon as the last one planned to be held in Bhopal in October before the state polls had to be called off, the sources said. The position of the Congress, which faced a near wipeout in the Hindi heartland, has als

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