INDIA bloc meet now in 3rd week of December

New Delhi: A meeting of the top leaders of the INDIA opposition bloc has been deferred to the third week of December after some of them expressed their inability to attend it due to their preoccupations. Another meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence here on Wednesday with the floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will, however, go ahead according to its schedule to formulate the opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The decision was taken as some leaders of the bloc, including Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, said they will not be able to attend Wednesday's meeting. Gurdeep Sappal, Congress Working Committee (CWC) member and coordinator of the Congress president's office, said on X: "A coordination meeting of parliamentary party leaders of INDIA alliance will be held at 6 pm on December 6 at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge." "Thereafter meeting of party presidents/heads of the INDIA alliance will be scheduled in third week of December at a date convenient to all," Sappal, who is also a member of the Campaign Committee of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), said.

Sources said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is unwell while his Tamil Nadu counterpart, M K Stalin, is unable to attend Wednesday's meet due to a cyclone that has hit the southern state. Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, is busy with a family wedding, the sources said. They said the three leaders had requested the Congress chief to postpone the meeting. "But the INDIA bloc meeting is on. It will be attended by the floor leaders of the parties at 6 pm on Wednesday at the 10, Rajaji Marg residence of the Congress president," a source said.

Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the meeting has not been postponed as some chief ministers were unable to attend it. She said the meeting will take place on December 6 and coordination and seat sharing will be discussed among the leaders.

Subsequently, the top leadership of various opposition parties will endorse the same during their meeting later in December, Chaturvedi added. Rubbishing speculation that the recent Assembly poll results have created fissures within the INDIA bloc, Congress leader Naseer Hussain said the election outcome would have no bearing on the opposition unity and its alliance is intact. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said Akhilesh Yadav has no plans to attend the meeting on Wednesday.