 "Opposition, NDA meet")
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced that 38 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners have confirmed their attendance at the meeting to be held in New Delhi on Tuesday, the day 26 like-minded Opposition parties will huddle for the second time in a month to strategise for the elections, intensifying the pitched battle ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
While the Opposition parties' Day 2 meeting in Bengaluru will focus on discussing topics like EVM machines, Lok Sabha seat sharing, the creation of a common minimum programme, and choosing the name of the united front, the BJP is hoping to hold onto its current allies and win over new ones.
Here are the top developments from the Opposition vs NDA's meeting today.
1. Ahead of the mega session scheduled for today (July 18), Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said “well begun is half done”, after the Opposition parties' dinner meeting on Monday.
2. The first day of the Opposition party's meeting started with the dinner meeting hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Following the dinner, Congress leader BK Hariprasad stated that the meeting began on a positive note and that the BJP would be defeated in 2024.
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3. The draft agenda of the joint Opposition meeting is to establish a subcommittee for drafting the common minimum programme and communications points for the alliance for the 2024 general elections for chalking out the joint party programme, which includes rallies, conventions, and agitation.
They intend to discuss the process for deciding seat sharing on a state-by-state basis, as well as the name of the alliance. The Opposition parties may also debate the issue of EVMs and propose reforms to the Election Commission (EC).
4. The dinner meeting was attended by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, chief ministers MK Stalin, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, and Hemant Soren, and RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
5. Among others at the meeting hosted by Siddaramaiah were Bihar CM Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Farooq Abdullah (NC), and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), besides Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) MP Vaiko.
6. On the other hand, BJP president JP Nadda said on Monday that 38 parties have confirmed their participation in its meeting and slammed Opposition leaders' unity efforts as a "selfish" exercise to protect themselves from action in cases of corruption involving more than Rs 20 trillion.
7. The BJP, which was accused by former allies of riding roughshod over partners and avoiding consensus building on key issues such as farm laws, which caused the party to split with its oldest ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), is using the NDA's expanded composition as a talking point to tout its credentials as being in pole position to lead a coalition of diverse parties.
The increase in the number of NDA partners from 24 in 1998 to 38 now, according to party leaders, demonstrates the acceptance and popularity of the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
8. Both groups are almost certain to have long tails. Only nine parties have 10 or more seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha (the nine account for 479 members). It is very likely that some of the Opposition grouping's 26 potential constituents, as well as the NDA's 38, are not represented in the Lok Sabha; only 37 parties have members in the lower house of Parliament.
9. The BJP is also hoping that ties with parties such as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), Tamil Maanila Congress, Kerala Congress (Thomas), and Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) will help it in the South, where it is not in power in any of the states.
