June 5th 2024.
On Wednesday, the leaders of the opposition bloc in India gathered for an important discussion. They had a lot to consider, including the possibility of forming a government, their future strategy as an alliance, and whether or not to reconnect with former allies Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu.
The meeting took place at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence in New Delhi, just a day after the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the winner with 240 seats, while the Congress came in second with 99 seats. However, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) holds the majority with 293 seats and is currently holding their own meeting to discuss government formation. The opposition alliance, on the other hand, has a total of 234 seats.
During the meeting, the opposition leaders are expected to discuss the results of the Lok Sabha elections and whether or not they should bring the Janata Dal and Telugu Desam Party on board to gather enough seats for government formation. In addition to Congress president Kharge, other top party leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also present at the meeting.
Among the attendees were also Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and TR Baalu of the DMK, Jharkhand Chief Minister Champai Soren and Kalpana Soren of the JMM, Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule of the NCP-SP, Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav of the SP, Abhishek Banerjee, Tejashwi Yadav, Sanjay Raut and Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena, Omar Abdullah from the National Conference, Sitaram Yechury and D Raja of the Communist Party of India, and Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha of the Aam Aadmi Party.
While the BJP fell short of a majority on their own, they may still be able to form a government with the support of their allies. With the help of Naidu's TDP and Nitish Kumar's JD, who won 16 and 12 seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar respectively, and other alliance partners, the NDA has passed the halfway mark.
However, there have been rumors that the Congress and other party leaders have been trying to convince the TDP and JD to switch sides and join the opposition alliance. Before the INDIA bloc meeting, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav shared a "wait and watch" message and avoided giving a direct answer when asked if the opposition is trying to gather enough seats to stake a claim for government formation. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi has made it clear that the Congress will not make any decisions without consulting their alliance partners. He also did not comment on whether or not they will reach out to TDP and JD.
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