New Delhi: The Opposition alliance was on Tuesday named INDIA -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance -- after top leaders of 26 parties met in Bengaluru, Karnataka to chalk out a united strategy to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. All political parties were reportedly asked at the dinner meeting on Monday to suggest names for the alliance.
"We have come together to save Democracy and the Constitution. With one voice, we have agreed to have a name for the alliance. The new name is - INDIA - Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance," Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a tweet.
He said that an 11-member coordination committee shall be set up shortly and that the Opposition parties are going to meet again in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and that the date of the meeting will be announced later.
"BJP Govt wants to destroy Democracy in this country. They want to bulldoze the Constitution. Unemployment and Price Rise are at their peak. They are misusing autonomous institutions against the opposition. It is a grave situation. We will fight this unitedly, and we shall be successful. INDIA will win," he added.
We have come together to save Democracy and the Constitution. With one voice, we have agreed to have a name for the alliance.
The new name is -
INDIA
I - Indian
N - National
D - Developmental
I - Inclusive
A - Alliance11-member coordination committee shall be…
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 18, 2023
As per sources, the name of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the new grouping is also suggested. She was the chairperson of UPA 1 and 2, which remained in government from 2004 to 2014.
Top opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, chief ministers of West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra along with party presidents and leaders of several parties were present at the meeting on Tuesday.
Among others at the meeting hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), besides Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) and MDMK MP Vaiko.
I am happy that 26 parties are present in Bengaluru to work unitedly.
Together, we are in government in 11 states today.
The BJP did not get 303 seats by itself. It used the votes of its allies and came to power and then discarded them.
The BJP President and their leaders are… pic.twitter.com/LyEkcmQi82
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 18, 2023
Fifteen parties, including the Congress, TMC, AAP, CPI, CPI-M, RJD, JMM, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), SP and the JDU, attended the last meeting for opposition unity hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on June 23.
Among the parties added this time are the MDMK, KDMK, VCK, RSP, CPI-ML, Forward Bloc, IUML, Kerala Congress (Joseph) and the Kerala Congress (Mani), besides the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) of Krishna Patel and Tamil Nadu's Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) led by M H Jawahirullah.
The total strength of the opposition parties attending this meeting is around 150 in Lok Sabha. Discussions on state-wise seat-sharing and ironing out differences among regional outfits were on the agenda during this meeting.
The Opposition meeting coincides with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting convened on Tuesday in Delhi, where some new allies are likely to join the ruling BJP-led coalition.
