Post-Election Setback: INDIA Bloc Meeting Postponed as Key Leaders Consider Skip

New Delhi: In a surprising turn of events, the Congress party announced on Tuesday that the anticipated INDIA bloc meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, has been deferred to the third week of the month. The decision stems from the likelihood of several key partners, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, opting to abstain from the meeting.

“I haven’t received any information, so I organized a program in North Bengal. If we were informed, we wouldn’t have planned those events. We would certainly have attended the meeting, but as of now, we have not been informed,” West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee told reporters on Tuesday.

The rescheduling follows closely on the heels of the recent Assembly election results in four states, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured victories in the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, leaving the Congress with a solitary win in Telangana.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary informed the media that party chief Akhilesh Yadav had no intentions of attending the INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi on Wednesday. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren echoed a similar sentiment, stating, “I will be busy in Giridih. I spoke to Kharge Ji yesterday, maybe a representative from our side will go,” as reported by news agency ANI.

Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc were originally slated to convene at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi on Wednesday to devise a strategy for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

A day prior, on December 4, Akhilesh Yadav expressed optimism despite the setback in the recent elections and envisioned a different outcome in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He emphasized the need for opposition parties to make extensive preparations to contend with a formidable opponent like the BJP. Yadav underscored the significance of strategic planning to counter the BJP’s majority, stating, “The fight is big. To fight a big party like the BJP, we will have to make a lot of preparations. We have to be under strict discipline and have to fight the strategy with which they (BJP) are getting the majority. I hope the results will be different in the Lok Sabha polls,” as conveyed to reporters in Varanasi.