A total of 28 political parties will attend the third meeting of the opposition alliance known as INDIA. This gathering will take place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai. Sixty-three representatives from these parties are scheduled to join the meeting, and it’s anticipated that during this meeting, the opposition bloc might reveal its logo and reach a consensus regarding the allocation of seats.
In the previous meeting in Bengaluru, 26 parties came together to form the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. Two new parties have joined since then: the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP), a Marxist political party in Maharashtra, and another regional outfit.
In addition to unveiling a common logo for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, these parties are likely to announce the formation of a coordination committee comprising 11 members from the principal opposition parties.
As these 28 parties unite against the NDA, there will be discussions about whether there should be a leader, or if smaller groups should be formed to strategize on different issues.
The question of who will be the Prime Ministerial candidate is an important one, and the opposition leaders are handling it carefully. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has proposed India as the face of the alliance, while former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has posed a counter-question, asking what choices the BJP has. Thackeray stated, “We have many potential Prime Ministers. The real question is what the BJP has to offer, given our experiences with their previous leader.”
For now, it has been decided that the allocation of seats will be based on the individual strengths of the parties in their respective states.
AAP national spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar initially suggested that Arvind Kejriwal should be the Prime Ministerial face of the INDIA bloc. However, AAP later clarified that Kejriwal’s involvement in the opposition grouping is aimed at saving India and that his candidacy for Prime Minister is a personal opinion and not an official stance of the party.