MUMBAI: The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) political alliance of 26 political parties led by the Indian National Congress that met for the third time in Mumbai last week had two-day of intense deliberations on various issues including working out strategies for the general elections slated early next year, at the end of which a coordination-cum-election strategy committee has been formed to fight the general elections together.

Amid speculation of early polls and the formation of a panel to explore the possibility of 'one nation, one election' by the central government, while exuding confidence that they would easily defeat the BJP, the bloc has resolved to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha polls together 'as far as possible' and vowed to conclude their seat-sharing arrangements at the earliest in a 'give-and-take' spirit.

On the day of their meeting on Thursday, the government announced a special session of Parliament from September 18 to 22 which was slammed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who called it a result of 'panic' due to opposition unity. Rahul Gandhi also claimed that the alliance represents 60 per cent of the country's population and will easily defeat the BJP if it fights the Lok Sabha polls unitedly.

The 14-member coordination committee will act as the highest decision-making body of the alliance and consists of K C Venugopal of the Congress, Sharad Pawar of the NCP, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, T R Baalu of the DMK, Hemant Soren of the JMM, Raghav Chadha of the AAP, D Raja of CPI, Javed Ali Khan of SP, Tejashwi Yadav of RJD, Lalan Singh of JD-U, Abhishek Banerjee of TMC, Omar Abdullah of NC and Mehbooba Mufti of PDP in the panel.

The group also resolved to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance along with coordinating their individual party communications and media strategies and campaigns with the theme 'Judega Bharat, Jeetega India' in different languages.

The block also formed various working groups for media, research campaign committees etc. with leaders from various parties as its members. 

The two-day conclave was attended by 63 leaders from 28 opposition parties prominent among which included the Congress, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), Shiv Sena UBT, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) all three factions of the Communist Party Of India, Jammu And Kashmir National Conference (NC) etc.

The alliance which was formed to take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Indian general elections first met in Patna, Bihar on 23 June 2023, followed by a second meeting in Bengaluru, Karnataka where the alliance's name was finalized.