INDIA meeting today Dec 19 2023; Mamata Banerjee says seat sharing on agenda

The INDIA bloc will hold its scheduled key meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday to deliberate on seat sharing, a joint campaign blueprint, and redrawing the joint strategy to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a day after 78 members of Parliament from opposition parties across Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were suspended until at least the end of the winter session.

With last week’s suspension, a total of 92 opposition MPs have been suspended till the session ends. 14 of them will have to appear before the privileges committee, which may propose a longer suspension.

West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said on Monday, a day before the opposition alliance meeting at the Ashoka Hotel, 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 seat-sharing, to defeat the BJP.

INDIA, also known as the ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance,’ is a coalition of opposition parties that includes the Congress.

On Monday, Banerjee met with Aam Aadmi Party national leader and Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal, as well as Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray. Kejriwal made no comment on the 45-minute meeting at the South Avenue home of TMC MP and Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.