Name for alliance, common goals, and mechanism for coordination on Opposition agenda for Tuesday meeting

When top leaders of 26 Opposition parties meet here on Tuesday, they are likely to fix a new name for their ‘alliance’ against the Narendra Modi regime, finalise the broad contours of a common programme, and formalise the mechanism for coordination and action.

The Opposition conclave, the second after Patna on June 23, will precede a meeting called by the BJP, which the saffron party claims will be attended by 38 parties. The Opposition, however, maintains that the NDA meet has been initiated to resurrect a “ghost” that has remained silent for years.

On Monday evening, leaders barring NCP’s Sharad Pawar met here over dinner to finalise the agenda for the next day’s deliberations where parties agreed to discuss a variety of issues and plans that they believe would catapult them to a position where it could electorally damage the ruling BJP.

The meeting was attended by former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, M K Stalin, Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Uddhav Thackeray, Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, G Devarajan, Derek O’Brien, Omar Abdullah and N K Premachandran among others.

The leaders are expected to discuss setting up of a sub-committee for drafting a common programme and communication points, a panel for chalking out joint programmes that includes rallies and agitations, proposals for names for the group, and a common secretariat for coordination.

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“Well begun is half done! Like-minded opposition parties shall closely work together to foster an agenda of social justice, inclusive development and national welfare. We want to free the people of India from the autocratic and anti-people politics of hate, division, economic inequality and loot,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge tweeted after the meeting.

“We want an India which is governed by Constitutional principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.  We want an India which provides hope and faith to the weakest person. United We Stand, for this India,” he said.

Well begun is half done!

Like-minded opposition parties shall closely work together to foster an agenda of social justice, inclusive development and national welfare.

We want to free the people of India from the autocratic and anti-people politics of hate, division, economic… pic.twitter.com/rhPxmpgL3x

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) July 17, 2023

“Meeting was good…Together we will prevail,” Mamata told reporters after the meeting. 

With eyes set on the 2024 general election, the 26 Opposition parties are all united in their fight against @BJP4India. Together, we will prevail!

Here are a few glimpses from the Second Opposition meeting in Bengaluru 👇 pic.twitter.com/2qefnmiKVF

— All India Trinamool Congress (@AITCofficial) July 17, 2023

Sources said the leaders had an “excellent” meeting and finalised the agenda, the draft of which was read out by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge was cleared by the leaders. 

A senior Opposition leader said “expect major announcements on Tuesday”, as the parties are very clear about what to discuss and decide. The leader said the functioning of the alliance and how to do it in a “practical way” as well as how to coordinate will be discussed. “The alliance will have a new name by afternoon,” the leader said.

However, there are reservations among a section of the Opposition to come out with a new name when there is no proper alliance. “One view is that we cannot just call it an Opposition meeting. Like NDA or UPA meetings, we should have a name,” an Opposition leader said.

Also, sources said, different committees would be worked out in the meeting. While there will be a general discussion and some instructions to the state units, seat sharing will not be discussed in a big way.

Sources said Yechury suggested that a smaller group of leaders should first discuss and come up with proposals for the next meeting, as all issues may not be ironed out during Tuesday’s meeting. 

He also suggested that the meeting should come out with a resolution on Manipur and that an Opposition delegation should go to Manipur.

Sources said RSP’s N K Premachandran wanted the meeting to issue a resolution on the Manipur issue on Monday itself but some others wanted it to be released on Tuesday after the meeting, a view which prevailed at the end. At the meeting, Sonia and Rahul did not speak.

Just before the meeting, Yechury told reporters that the Left cannot have any alliance with Trinamool Congress and that the Left and the Congress will take on both the BJP and the Mamata-led party in West Bengal. Sources said Trinamool was upset with such a statement just before the meeting.