Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
The leaders of 26 opposition parties have formed a coalition in the general election due next year. The alliance will be called INDIA, an abbreviation for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance. A two-day meeting was held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
The leaders reviewed issues including how many seats each party would compete, a common programme for the election, and others.
Top leaders including Sonia Gandhi were a part of the meeting on 18th July. “We are setting aside our political differences to save democracy,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge remarked in a press conference. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, asked in the press conference “BJP, can you challenge INDIA?”, and reported that the meeting was constructive.
On July 17th, JP Nadda, the BJP President, condemned this meeting to be based on “the politics of selfishness”.
The group will hold its third meeting in Mumbai.