Political showdown: NDA, Oppn show of strength this week

30 parties to attend NDA meet in New Delhi tomorrow

24 parties to attend Opposition meet in Bengaluru today

Hyderabad: With the NDA and Opposition parties flexing their muscles and trying to increase the numbers of alliance partners ahead of the 2024 general election, a high-voltage political showdown seems to be on the cards.

While the Congress is hosting a two-day Opposition meeting in Bengaluru from Monday, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will hold a mega meeting on Tuesday at New Delhi.

The Congress hopes that 24 parties would attend the meeting, while the NDA has sent invites to 30 parties. These meetings assume importance on two counts, one the general election and second the ensuing monsoon session which is going to witness high drama.

The NDA meeting will be chaired by BJP president JP Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Other than their alliance partners, the BJP has invited several new allies and some former ones to the meet. Not all parties in the NDA have a presence in Parliament.

The NDA currently boasts 24 parties. With the entry of NCP (Ajit Pawar faction), Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas), HAM (Hindustani Awam Morcha), RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samta Party), VIP (Vikassheel Insaan Party), and SBSP (Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party Om Prakash Rajbhar) the ruling alliance will have 30 partners.

Interestingly, the BJP has decided to keep the TDP and Shiromani Akali Dal out of this meeting. But it has invited Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan to ally with them. Pawan Kalyan is going to New Delhi on Monday afternoon. Meanwhile, BJP leader Ram Madhav said the TDP has been out of the NDA since 2017 and as of now there is no indication of taking it back into the NDA fold.

The big question now: Will Pawan Kalyan agree to allow the anti-incumbency votes to be split? The BJP seems to be taking a stand that it should not depend on other parties but increase its own strength in AP. This is certainly not possible by the time the state goes to polls. It only indicates that it was not in favour of Pawan’s proposal of TDP-JSP-BJP alliance. It now remains to be seen what stand Pawan would take.

Meanwhile, the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to make the Bengaluru event a grand success as the meeting will take a decision to zero in on a strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Sixteen parties first met in Patna on June 23. The meeting is more significant for the Congress because its role may be crucial in sewing up the anti-BJP alliance to fight the general election. Sonia Gandhi will also host a dinner for Opposition leaders on the eve of the meeting.