I.N.D.I.A. meeting on Monsoon session on July 19: TMC-AAP will not attend; This is the second meeting of the alliance after the Lok Sabha elections

For the second time after the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the leaders of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance are going to meet on July 19 (Saturday) evening. Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will not participate in it.

According to sources, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has spoken to many leaders including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal has also called leaders of all parties to this meeting to be held at the house of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.

This meeting is taking place at a time when the monsoon session is about to begin and there is a ruckus in Bihar over the Special Revision Process (SIR) of the voter list.

The last meeting of I.N.D.I.A was held on June 3 this year. In this, there was a demand from the central government to call a special session of Parliament on ‘Operation Sindoor’. At the same time, earlier a meeting was held on June 5, 2024 regarding the Lok Sabha elections.

Why Trinamool and AAP will not come Trinamool Congress is celebrating ‘Shaheed Diwas’ on July 21, so its leaders will be busy in Kolkata. At the same time, AAP is busy in its expansion campaign in Gujarat and other states. AAP has chosen the path of direct fight with Congress in many states and the party says that the I.N.D.I.A. alliance was limited only to the Lok Sabha elections.

However, opposition leaders say that the opposition will remain united in Parliament, even if some parties do not come to the meeting.

Statements of Omar, Mamata and Tejashwi on I.N.D.I.A block

The block should be closed: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had talked about ending the India Alliance in January this year. He had said, ‘No meeting of this has been held after the Lok Sabha elections. This alliance was only till the Lok Sabha elections, so it should be ended. It has neither any agenda nor any leadership.’

If I get a chance, I will lead: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed displeasure on 7 December 2024 over the poor performance of the INDIA block in Haryana-Maharashtra and by-elections. She had said, ‘I formed the INDIA alliance. If those leading it cannot run it properly, then give me a chance. I am ready to lead the alliance from Bengal itself.’ Mamata Banerjee’s statement was supported by Shiv Sena (UBT), SP. On this, the BJP had commented, ‘The opposition leaders do not trust the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. They still consider Rahul a raw player in politics.’

INDIA alliance was only till the Lok Sabha elections: Tejashwi Yadav also made a big statement about the India alliance in January 2025. He had said that ‘India alliance was formed only till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.’ Tejashwi Yadav had said, ‘It is not unnatural that parties like Congress and AAP have differences. The main objective of the alliance was to defeat the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, and this alliance was limited to that goal.’

6 meetings of I.N.D.I.A. block, first called by Nitish, last by Congress. After the formation of I.N.D.I.A. block, its 6 meetings have been held. The first meeting was held on 23 June 2023 in Patna. It was called by Nitish Kumar. Later Nitish left I.N.D.I.A. block and joined NDA. The last meeting was held on 1 June 2024.

This last meeting lasted for more than two and a half hours. Kharge had told about the meeting, I.N.D.I.A. block will get 295 and more seats. We have assessed that it will not get less than this. This figure has been received after asking all our leaders and there is no change in this figure.

Fifth meeting: Seat sharing got stuck, Mamata-Akhilesh not ready to give more seats to Congress

This meeting was held virtually on 13 January 2024. 9 leaders from 28 parties were involved in it. There was a consensus on the name of Mallikarjun Kharge for the chairperson, but the name of the convener could not be decided. After the meeting, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, ‘We discussed that we will take a decision on seat sharing soon.’ Then JDU was also included in I.N.D.I. JDU also expressed displeasure over the delay in seat sharing. Consensus could not be reached on seats in this meeting.

Fourth meeting: Mamata named Kharge for PM face

The fourth meeting of I.N.D.I.A was held on 19 December 2023 at Ashoka Hotel in Delhi. In this, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee suggested the name of Mallikarjun Kharge for the PM face. Arvind Kejriwal supported it. This information was given by MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) MP Vaiko after the meeting. However, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav remained silent on the question of PM face.

Third meeting: 5 committees formed, election strategy prepared

The third meeting of the I.N.D.I.A Alliance was held in Mumbai on 31 August-1 September 2023. In the meeting, the Alliance had formed 5 committees. These include Campaign Committee, Coordination/Strategy Committee, Media, Social Media and Research Committee. In this meeting, 28 opposition parties had prepared a strategy for the elections held in five states.

Second meeting: The name of the alliance was decided as I.N.D.I.A

The second meeting of the Opposition Unity was held in Bengaluru on 17-18 July 2023. 26 opposition parties came together to defeat the BJP in the 2024 general elections. In this meeting, the name of the alliance of opposition parties was decided as INDIA. Its full form is Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.

First meeting: Nitish led, 15 parties participated

The first meeting of the opposition alliance was held in Patna on 23 June 2023. This meeting was led by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. 15 opposition parties participated in the meeting. This meeting was to bring the opposition together to face the Modi government in the next Lok Sabha elections.

INDIA got 234 seats in the Lok Sabha elections I.N.D.I.A has got 234 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. This includes 99 seats of Congress, 37 of Samajwadi Party and 29 seats of Trinamool Congress. The majority figure is 272. At the same time, Congress was leading the INDIA block in the Maharashtra elections. The opposition Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) got only 45 seats out of 288. The BJP alliance got 230 seats.