Patna, 13 September: With just a few months left for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the opposition-led I.N.D.I.A. bloc has concentrated all its efforts on taking on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the polls.
A week after concluding its third all-party meet in Mumbai, the bloc’s 14-member Coordination Panel now is all set to host its first meeting, aiming to deliberate on laying a comprehensive campaign strategy today along with other issues.
The meeting, which is to be held at NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar’s residence today, will also deliberate on the seat-sharing formula.
Furthermore, according to reports, preliminary discussion on identifying the mechanism for seat sharing is expected to take place. However the seat-sharing formula will be based on the parties’ past election performance and the strength of the largest party that is a member of the grouping in every state.
It is pertinent to note that the coordination cum election strategy committee of the opposition’s INDIA bloc was first constituted during the two-day Mumbai meet held from August 31 to September 1. The panel consists of 14 members: KC Venugopal (Congress), TR Baalu (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena-UBT), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Javed Ali Khan (SP), Lalan Singh (JD-U), D Raja (CPI), Omar Abdullah (National Conference), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), and a member from CPI-M.
Moreover, ahead of the meet, JDU sources have confirmed that their leader Lalan Singh will not attend the meeting due to his health crisis. Also, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who has been called by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for questioning today, is likely to skip the meeting.
Uddhav Thackeray meets Sharad Pawar ahead of the meet
Meanwhile, ahead of the important meeting, Shiv Sena (UBT) faction leader Uddhav Thackeray, along with the party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, called on Sharad Pawar. Their talks, which reportedly lasted for 90 minutes, focused on topics including the current political situation in Maharashtra and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc’s coordination panel gathering.
Speaking to reporters about the details of the meeting, NCP’s (Sharad Pawar faction) state unit President Jayant Patil said, “There was a discussion on the meeting of I.N.D.I.A alliance leaders going to be held tomorrow. We discussed which topics will be taken up in the meeting.”
Furthermore, speaking about the seat-sharing pact in Maharashtra, the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader added that no discussions on seat-sharing pacts were made during today’s meeting. However, he added that a coordination committee meeting for Maharashtra, with equal representation from Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Shiv Sena (UBT faction), will be held soon.
