National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Dushyant Kumar Gautam, taking a jibe at the Opposition's INDIA alliance, said on Friday that any alliance by opposition parties would not work anywhere. Nationa General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Dushyant Kumar Gautam (Screengrab)

Speaking to news agency PTI, Gautam said that the first meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) — which was held in Patna on June 23 — was skipped by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and the second meeting — held on July 17-18 — was skipped by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.

He said, “I believe their (INDIA Bloc) alliance plan will fail soon… who knows how many will skip the third one.”

The Opposition’s INDIA is set to meet in Mumbai to strategise their next course of action against the BJP-led Central government. The 26-party Opposition alliance, which has been formed to jointly take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year, is scheduled to meet in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1.

Gautam also attacked the Opposition parties for infighting and fighting against each other in Assembly elections. He said, “In Punjab, they [AAP] will not give them [Congress] even a single seat. The situation is a bad in Delhi, that is why he [Arvind Kejriwal] might talk about sharing seats. The Trinamool Congress will not let Congress enter in West Bengal. They [Congress] are in a bad position in Maharashtra too.”

Further Gautam attacked the INDIA bloc by calling them selfish and dramatic in nature.

He said, “This alliance is a drama and is selfish in nature. Any work done with selfish intentions is never fulfilled. These people are anti-Modi. What are they offering people, even they don't know yet.”

Opposition's Mumbai meet

A proposal for an awareness campaign about INDIA’s essence of defending the Constitution will be discussed in the Mumbai meet, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya said. He added, the campaign will help in educating people about the need for unity ahead of the 2024 national polls. “Our primary aim is to spread the message that the opposition bloc has been formed to defend the constitution and to fight the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] led NDA [National Democratic Alliance] government. ..a schedule [for the campaign] could be thrashed out [at Mumbai].”

People aware of the matter said Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar held discussions with INDIA leaders on the agenda of the Mumbai meeting during his two-day visit to Delhi. “A draft agenda of the meeting is under process. Talks were held between Congress, Kumar, and other leaders,” said a person, requesting anonymity.

According to senior Opposition leaders, discussions will soon begin among INDIA constituents on the formation of four to five panels, including an all-important coordination panel, which will be announced in the Mumbai meeting.

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