Opposition Alliance Likely Named INDIA as 'Chak De!' Tweets Hint at Bloc's 2024 Branding

With the second day of the Opposition meeting underway in Bengaluru on Tuesday, all eyes are on what name the new alliance for 2024 Lok Sabha elections is given. And if tweets by Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien and Shiv Sena-UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi are any indication, ‘INDIA’ as an acronym may figure prominently in the coalition’s name.

Both leaders posted cryptic tweets with the phrase ‘Chak De, INDIA!’ shortly after the meeting got underway, with Congress MP Manickam Tagore also posting a similar tweet.

The RJD, in fact, posted a tweet announcing INDIA or Indian National Democractic Inclusive Alliance as the alliance’s new name, but deleted the post within minutes.

As many as 26 parties are holding deliberations on giving the grouping a name, structure and common agenda to take on the BJP in the 2024 General Elections. All political parties were asked at a dinner meeting on Monday night to suggest names for the alliance.

Acording to reports, the name of Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the new grouping has also been suggested. Sonia Gandhi was the chairperson of UPA 1 and 2, which remained in government from 2004 to 2014.

Top opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, chief ministers of West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra along with party presidents and leaders of several parties were present at the meeting on Tuesday.

Among others at the meeting hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), besides Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) and MDMK MP Vaiko.

The Opposition meeting coincides with the NDA meeting convened on Tuesday in Delhi, where some new allies are likely to join the ruling BJP-led coalition.

Talks of unity notwithstanding, differences among opposition parties, especially those who have been traditional rivals, remain and reconciling political interests will be a challenging task. Fifteen parties, including the Congress, TMC, AAP, CPI, CPI-M, RJD, JMM, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), SP and the JDU, attended the last meeting for opposition unity hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on June 23.

Among the parties added this time are the MDMK, KDMK, VCK, RSP, CPI-ML, Forward Bloc, IUML, Kerala Congress (Joseph) and the Kerala Congress (Mani), besides the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) of Krishna Patel and Tamil Nadu’s Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) led by M H Jawahirullah. The total strength of the opposition parties attending this meeting is around 150 in Lok Sabha.