INDIA Bloc Meeting: As the Lok Sabha election is just a few months away, the opposition INDIA will hold a key meeting on Tuesday. In the meeting, the meeting will be held to deliberate on seat sharing, a joint campaign blueprint, and redrawing the joint strategy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The meeting is considered important after the setback in the recently held assembly polls.

A day before the meeting, which will be held at Delhi's Ashoka Hotel, West Bengal CM and TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee said that the INDIA bloc's prime ministerial candidate will be decided after the 2024 general elections and expressed confidence that the alliance will iron out all issues, including over seat-sharing, to defeat the BJP.

Banerjee also dismissed suggestions that the alliance has lost time in putting things in order, saying "it is better late than never." She also expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between the TMC, the Congress, and the Left.

"The BJP is not strong, we are weak. We need to work together to overcome it," Banerjee told reporters here in reply to a question on the BJP's rising influence, especially in the Hindi belt. She also said she doesn't discriminate between the Hindi belt and other regions.

The key challenge before the leaders of various opposition parties, who have come together to fight the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is also to come up with an alternative common programme as a counter to the ruling dispensation. The immediate challenge before the INDIA bloc is to build a consensus on having a convener, a spokesperson, and a common secretariat, as it is a tricky issue due to differences among its constituents. The recent victory of the saffron brigade has also put pressure on the BJP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh. It has also put more pressure on opposition parties to put up a united front.

The first meeting of the joint opposition convened in Patna on June 23, and the second meeting was held in Bengaluru on July 17–18. The third meeting happened in Mumbai on August 31–September 1.

INDIA or 'Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance', is a group of opposition parties, including the Congress. The parties have come together to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by PM Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and prevent it from winning a third straight term at the Centre in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

(With input from agencies)