New Delhi. The leaders of the constituent parties of the opposition alliance ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’ (INDIA) may meet on June 1 to assess their performance in the Lok Sabha elections as well as to formulate their strategy before the election results. However, Trinamool Congress will not be able to participate in this meeting due to the busy schedule of its top leaders in the voting. Voting for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections is to be held on June 1. Counting of votes will take place on June 4.
Sources said that in this meeting called by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, opposition leaders will discuss their strategy before the election results and will also assess their performance in the seven-phase elections. The opposition alliance is claiming that it will be successful in preventing the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from returning to power at the Center and forming its own government. On the other hand, the ruling alliance led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also claimed that it will form the government at the Center for the third consecutive time after these elections.
After the formation of the ‘India’ alliance, a total of 28 parties were associated with it, but just before the Lok Sabha elections, some parties like Janata Dal (United) led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Lok Dal, which has influence in western Uttar Pradesh, joined the NDA. Sources associated with TMC said that the ruling party of West Bengal will not be able to be a part of this meeting, because the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections is going to be held on the day of the meeting, due to which the main leaders of the party will be busy.
TMC sources said that on the day of the meeting, voting will be held in nine seats in West Bengal, including two seats in Kolkata – Kolkata South and Kolkata North, which are important for the party. Other constituencies in the state where voting is to be held on that day include Jadavpur, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jayanagar, Mathurapur and Diamond Harbor. A party source said that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other top leaders will vote on that day and hence will not be able to attend the meeting.
The source mentioned that the party has attended all the meetings of the opposition alliance so far. According to the source, TMC has informed the meeting organisers about its inability to attend. The first meeting of the ‘India’ alliance was held in Patna on June 23 last year, followed by a meeting in Bengaluru on July 17-18, 2023 and then in Mumbai between August 31 and September 1. The fourth meeting of the opposition alliance was held in Delhi on December 19. After this, opposition leaders participated in the ‘Save Democracy’ rally held in Delhi on March 31 in protest against the arrest of Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren. TMC has been a part of all these meetings and public meetings. At the March 31 rally in Delhi, TMC leader Derek O’Brien had announced that they would remain a part of the ‘India’ block.