The Congress party is proceeding with the INDIA bloc meeting scheduled for Wednesday to devise a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. However, additional discussions involving key opposition leaders are slated for the third week of December, as some leaders, including Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav, expressed inability to attend the Wednesday meeting. Gurdeep Sappal, a CWC member and coordinator of Congress president’s office, announced a coordination meeting on December 6 and a subsequent gathering of party presidents/heads of the INDIA Alliance in the third week of December.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s unwell condition and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin’s cyclone-related commitments hindered their participation, while Mamata Banerjee cited a family wedding. Although these leaders requested a postponement, the INDIA bloc meeting proceeded as planned, attended by party floor leaders. Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav won’t attend on December 6, with party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary stating that another authorized representative will be present. The meeting follows the BJP’s success in three Hindi heartland states and Congress’s victory in Telangana, sparking internal tensions within the INDIA bloc. Regional allies like Shiv Sena, JD(U), and AAP have urged the Congress to be more inclusive, emphasizing discontent within the alliance.
In Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan criticized Congress for not collaborating with INDIA alliance parties, attributing their losses to greed for power and a failure to join forces with regional allies.
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