New Delhi: The Congress is going ahead with the INDIA bloc meeting convened by it on Wednesday to formulate a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls but it will hold another round of parleys involving top opposition leaders in the third week of December, sources said.
The move comes as some opposition leaders of the bloc, including TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, said they won’t be able to attend the meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
Gurdeep Sappal, CWC member and coordinator of Congress president’s office, “A coordination meeting of Parliamentary Party leaders of INDIA Alliance will be held at 6 pm on December 6 at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.”
“Thereafter meeting of party presidents/heads of the INDIA Alliance will be scheduled in the third week of December at a date convenient to all,” Sappal, who is also a Member of the Campaign Committee of INDIA Alliance, said.
Sources said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is unwell while Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin is unable to attend due to the cyclone that has hit his state. The West Bengal chief minister, they said, is busy with a family wedding.
The sources said the three leaders had urged the Congress chief to postpone the meeting.
“But INDIA block meeting is on, being attended by party floor leaders at 6 PM at 10, Rajaji Marg residence of the Congress president,” a source said.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said on Tuesday that Akhilesh Yadav has no plans to attend the meeting on December 6.
When asked if the decision was taken after the declaration of assembly poll results in four states, the spokesperson said there was no information about the meeting earlier.
“The Samajwadi Party national president has no plans to attend the meeting of the INDIA bloc tomorrow. Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav or any other leader authorised by the national president will go for the meeting,” Chaudhary told PTI.
