INDIA alliance Mumbai meeting live updates

Leaders of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance on Thursday said they have come together to save the Constitution and democracy in the country and would evolve a common program as they prepare to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

A two-day meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is being held at the Grand Hyatt hotel here.

Top leaders of the INDIA bloc began hectic parleys in an informal setting here on Thursday evening to chart out a concrete roadmap and evolve a structure for cooperation among the alliance partners to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Ahead of dinner hosted by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, the INDIA bloc leaders met informally and are understood to have deliberated on fixing the agenda of the formal meeting on Friday when key decisions about the alliance’s future strategy would be taken.

The third meeting of the Opposition’s INDIA alliance started in Mumbai on Thursday evening with leaders of several prominent political parties coming together to discuss the strategy and agenda of the grouping which is seeking to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday left for Mumbai in a chartered flight to attend the third meeting of the opposition coalition INDIA.

The CM’s flight took off from Ranchi’s Birsa Munda Airport around 3.45 pm, a party official said.

Speaking at the press conference before the INDIA bloc meeting in Mumbai, Mr. Gandhi said Prime Minister Modi should clear his name regarding the controversy.

“Joint Parliamentary Committee should be allowed and a thorough investigation should take place in Adani matter,” he said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who arrived in Mumbai to attend the third meeting of the opposition alliance INDIA, addressed the media. Speaking at the press conference, Mr. Gandhi said, “The current flavour is G20, and the G20 is about India’s position in the world and what is very important for a country like India is that there is a level playing field and transparency in our economic environment with regard to businesses that operate here. This morning two prominent global financial newspapers have raised important questions.”

Mr. Gandhi further said that these are not any random newspapers, but those that affect investments in India and affect the perception of our country in the rest of the world. He said, “Now there are a few questions that they are asking. Over a billion dollars of money went from India circulated in different places and returned to India. This clearly proves that they have the documentation supporting it. The first question is, whose money is it? Is it Adani’s money or someone else’s?”

The second question is, he continued, “Why these two foreign nationals know the valuation of a company that controls almost all of India’s infrastructure?”

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accompanied by JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh and State Water Resources Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha, left for Mumbai on Thursday afternoon to attend the third meeting of the opposition coalition INDIA.

Union minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Thursday termed the opposition’s ‘INDIA’ alliance as a rebranded version of UPA.

“It is UPA only and an attempt to rebrand UPA. PM Modi has rightly described them as ‘Ghamandia’. They only want to do dynastic, appeasement politics. Nothing will change by changing the name...,” Mr. Chandrasekhar said hours ahead of the ‘INDIA’ bloc’s strategy meeting in Mumbai.

- ANI

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary on Thursday said more like-minded parties and leaders are expected to join the opposition bloc INDIA in the coming days.

“Give us some time...more like-minded parties and leaders are expected to join the INDIA alliance,” Mr. Chaudhary told reporters on his arrival in Mumbai for the opposition bloc meeting.

“We expect that political parties all over the country which work on the ground and have a similar ideology will come together,” he added.

- PTI

“The formation of INDIA (the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance), the 26-member Opposition alliance, has again highlighted an oft-cited adage: elections and alliances are not only about arithmetic but chemistry too,” writes political researcher Omkar Poojari.

“Indeed, multiple elections in the past have shown that arithmetic alone is no guarantee of success. On paper, the INDIA front appears to have arithmetic on its side, but its chemistry is questionable.”

Read the column here.

Accusing the ruling BJP of betraying public, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said those who came to power in 2014 will go out in 2024.

Before leaving for Mumbai from Saifai to attend a meeting of opposition bloc INDIA, Mr. Yadav said, “I am happy that meetings of the INDIA alliance are being held continuously. The public is confident that this alliance will form a government and the Bharatiya Janata Party will go out of power in the country.”

The former chief minister said Uttar Pradesh has a very important role to play in the next Lok Sabha elections as 80 MPs are elected from the state. “People who have betrayed the public will be thrown out of power in the year 2024. Those who came in 2014, will go out in 2024.”

- PTI

Uddhav Thackeray faction leader Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party is “scared” of the Opposition alliance - INDIA bloc- and has “no choice for the Prime Minister face”.

Speaking to media in Mumbai ahead of the third opposition meeting, junior Thackeray said, “The way BJP is targetting us, shows that they are scared of the INDIA alliance and our victory. Their hatred is for the country and constitution, and we will not let them win...The BJP has no choice but we have many choices for the PM face.”

-ANI

Shiromani Akali Dal senior leader Prem Singh Chandumajra reiterated on Wednesday that his party will neither join hands with the Opposition bloc, INDIA nor with the NDA. He said his party would never forge alliances with the parties that do not support ‘federalism’.

“Shiromani Akali Dal had made it clear from the very first day that we are neither with the NDA nor with the INDIA Alliance; we are not with any such alliance that does not support federalism. The INDIA alliance shows that all parties are coming together to save one family,” he said.

- ANI

The BJP on Thursday slammed the opposition INDIA bloc as a “selfish alliance” aimed at promoting and protecting the interests of families at the helm of its member parties.

The ruling party’s spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress’ “missile” will never launch as it has no fuel. The BJP’s Chandrayaan will successfully land for a third time in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as it is fuelled by development, he told reporters.

“The CMP (common minimum programme) being discussed in the INDIA alliance is, in fact, all about having “corruption’s maximum profit” as all these parties together represent scams worth over Rs 20 lakh crore,” he alleged.

Their other aim is to deliver a blow to the stable and pro-development dispensation running under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, he added.

Patra said the opposition’s attempt to come together is a game of musical chairs and that these parties engage before every election against the BJP even though their own alliance is marked by mutual fight and one-upmanship over who will be the prime ministerial face.

- PTI

Ahead of the meeting, the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday put up saffron flags along with pictures of Uddhav outside the Mumbai airport.

Speaking to ANI, Santosh Kadam, secretary Bharatiya kamgar sena (UBT), a frontal organisation of the Sena, said, “We have put up the saffron flags at the Mumbai airport. This is our identity”.

“Hindutva is our identity and all the people living in India are Hindus. The rest of the coalition partners will also agree to this,” he said.

Posters welcoming several opposition leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Secretary-General of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah leaders, who will be taking part in the third Opposition conclave in Mumbai, have sprung up along the way leading up to the venue of the meeting.

- ANI