INDIA bloc's fourth meeting on December 19 in Delhi

The fourth meeting of the Opposition INDIA bloc has been postponed again and will be held on December 19 in Delhi, according to Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh. The first meeting of the Opposition's grand alliance, formed to oust the BJP from the Centre in 2024, was held in June this year in Patna, followed by meetings in Bengaluru and Mumbai.

The fourth meeting of the Opposition INDIA bloc has been postponed again and will be held on December 19 in Delhi, said Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Sunday. He did not give any reasons why the meeting was postponed from December 17. Political leaders attending the meet are likely to focus on evolving a "core positive agenda", seat sharing and a programme to hold joint rallies.

The meeting was previously postponed to December 17 after top alliance leaders, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, decided to skip the meeting, which was originally scheduled for December 6.

The meeting on December 6 was called by the Congress on the day the election results of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Rajasthan were announced. As the BJP crossed the halfway mark in three states, the meeting of the Opposition bloc was announced.

The bloc was formed in Patna on June 23 when its first meeting was held in the chairmanship of Nitish Kumar. The alliance has since then held two more meetings – in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18 and in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1. However, no agreements over the seat-sharing have been made so far.