Team 'INDIA' Vs Team NDA: Opposition Sounds Bugle For 2024 Lok Sabha Polls

The united Opposition has chosen 'INDIA' as the name for the alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections

The united Opposition leaders at the meeting in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The united Opposition has chosen INDIA as the name for the alliance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. India is an acronym which stands for:

I - Indian 
N - National 
D - Developmental
I - Inclusive 
A - Alliance

According to VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan, the name was proposed by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at the united Opposition's meeting of 26 "like-minded" parties in Bengaluru, with former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in attendance.

Several parties, including the MDMK, KDMK, VCK, RSP, Forward Bloc, IUML, Kerala Congress (Joseph), and Kerala Congress (Mani), are among those joining the second opposition meeting. The 24 Opposition parties collectively hold around 150 Lok Sabha seats. 

With the name of the opposition alliance decided, the partners are now likely to sign a joint declaration to form a sub-committee to draft a common minimum programme for the functioning of the alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking on Opposition parties attacking each other in different states, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that the differences between the Opposition parties are not too big. "We are aware that at the state level, there are differences between some of us. These differences are not ideological. These differences are not so big that we cannot put them behind us for the sake of the common man and the middle class, for youth, for the poor, the Dalit, the adivasis, and the minorities, whose rights are being crushed silently behind the scenes."

The first meeting of the united Opposition was held on June 23, The major difference between the first and second meetings is the presence of Sonia Gandhi. Her presence is being seen as a move to get the Congress, the largest Opposition party in Lok Sabha, back in the lead on the united Opposition platform. The Congress has, however, said that it is not interested in power or the post of the Prime Minister.

The united Opposition will field one candidate per seat against the BJP. Discussions on a seat-sharing formula are likely to take place at Tuesday's meeting. However, the parties in the previous meeting had decided that the individual seats and the candidates would be discussed at the state level.