Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh revealed on Sunday that the fourth meeting of the Opposition INDIA bloc has once again been rescheduled and is now scheduled to take place on December 19 in Delhi. The reasons for the postponement from the initially planned date of December 17 were not provided by Ramesh.
Originally called on December 6 by the Congress party, the meeting had been deferred to December 17 after key leaders in the alliance, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, opted to skip the gathering.
The initial meeting on December 6 coincided with the announcement of election results in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Rajasthan. The decision to convene the Opposition bloc meeting was made as the BJP secured a majority in three states. However, the Congress party faced significant setbacks in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, now maintaining a regional stronghold only in Himachal Pradesh and functioning as a junior partner in alliances in Bihar and Jharkhand.
Recalling the last three meetings of the INDIA bloc, the most recent session was conducted in Mumbai and hosted by Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray. Key figures such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and chief ministers from five states were in attendance. Over the two-day discussions, the alliance delved into major electoral issues for the upcoming general elections, formulated a coordination committee, and passed a three-point resolution to collectively contest the 2024 Indian general elections "as far as possible."
The nomenclature of the Opposition alliance, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), was officially announced during the second meeting in Bengaluru. The inaugural meeting was hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna, during which the parties collectively resolved to unite in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls with the aim of "dethroning the BJP."
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