Seat-sharing, campaign strategy: I.N.D.I.A bloc's crucial meet on Tuesday to firm up 2024 plans

The key challenge before the leaders of various opposition parties is to come up with an alternative common programme as a counter to the ruling dispensation.

New Delhi: With the clock ticking for the Lok Sabha polls next year, opposition bloc Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) will hold a crucial meeting here to deliberate on seat sharing, a joint campaign blueprint and redrawing the joint strategy to take on the BJP after the setback in the recent assembly polls.

A day before the meeting, which will be held at the Ashoka Hotel here, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said the I.N.D.I.A bloc's prime ministerial candidate will be decided after the 2024 general elections and expressed confidence that the alliance will iron out all issues, including over seat-sharing, to defeat the BJP.

She also dismissed suggestions that the alliance has lost time in putting things in order, saying "it is better late than never". Banerjee expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between her TMC, the Congress and the Left.

"The BJP isn't strong, we're weak. We need to work together to overcome it," Banerjee told reporters here in reply to a question on the BJP's rising influence, especially in the Hindi belt. She also said she does not discriminate between the Hindi belt and other regions.

Banerjee also made light of the BJP's assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return for a third term, saying 2024 is not a done deal.

The TMC chief said she is ready to campaign for alliance partners across the country. She also held a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and discussed the political situation in the country.

Speaking with the media here, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said the committees that were formed earlier have been working behind the scenes and preparations were being made for the polls.

Yadav said everyone in the opposition ranks will play its part and asserted that regional parties are very strong. "Wherever there are regional parties, the BJP is no where to be seen. Most of the regional parties are with I.N.D.I.A bloc," the RJD leader said.

Asked about the Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's role in the I.N.DI.A bloc going forward, he said everyone's role is the same and everyone's objective is the same which is to oust divisive forces from power.

JD(U) leader Kumar and Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo Uddhav Thackeray arrived in the national capital on Monday evening for the bloc's meeting.

Evolving a "core positive agenda", seat sharing and a programme to hold joint rallies are among the main challenges before the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc which it would take up in the meeting here on Tuesday.

The parties intend to move forward with the unity theme - "Main Nahin, Hum" (We, Not Me) - as a counter to Prime Minister Modi at the meeting, a senior Congress leader has said.

The key challenge before the leaders of various opposition parties, who have come together to fight the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is also to come up with an alternative common programme as a counter to the ruling dispensation.

The immediate challenge before the INDIA bloc is also to build a consensus on having a convener, a spokesperson and a common secretariat, as it is a tricky issue due to differences among its constituents.

The recent victory of the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has also put more pressure on opposition parties to put up a united face.

Sources said 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 continue to remain sticking points among the alliance partners, as none are ready to give in.

With issues such as the caste census apparently not clicking with voters during the state polls, leaders in the I.N.D.I.A bloc could go back to the drawing board to chalk out a new strategy.

The opposition parties, including the Congress, had gone all out to highlight the caste census issue in these assembly polls, considered the semi-finals ahead of the general elections.

Also, plans for joint rallies by the opposition would have to be finalised soon as the last one scheduled to be held in Bhopal in October before the assembly polls had to be cancelled, the sources said.

The position of the Congress, which suffered a near wipeout in the Hindi heartland, has also weakened within the alliance. Equations within the I.N.D.I.A bloc are set to change, as other opposition parties would challenge its position as the fulcrum of the alliance.

Undeterred by the recent defeats, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has said that they will move forward to take on the BJP with a positive agenda and will highlight people's issues.

With only a few months left for the 2024 elections and the assembly polls proving a dampener, there is little time for the opposition bloc to rediscover its election narrative to take on a resurgent BJP under Prime Minister Modi.

It is the fourth meeting of the I.N.D.I.A. It held its first meeting in Patna on June 23. Its second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17-18 and the third in Mumbai between August 31 and September 1, where the 27 parties had adopted resolutions to unitedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.