West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee met Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leader Raghav Chadha in Delhi on Monday. The meeting comes just hours ahead of the key conclave of the INDIA opposition bloc in the national capital on Tuesday, December 19.Delhi CM and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal met West Bengal CM and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee earlier this evening. https://t.co/OIhickWhdE pic.twitter.com/JX8VzIJbdb— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2023National capital hosts INDIA meetingThe INDIA bloc gathers anti-BJP regional satraps across states. Tuesdays Delhi meeting will be the fourth such conclave and the first since recent assembly election verdicts. Top opposition figures like Nitish Kumar, MK Stalin and Akhilesh Yadav will deliberate on forging an anti-Modi front for the 2024 national polls at the meeting. Earlier meetings had to be postponed over scheduling issues. This meeting on Tuesday will be the first meeting of the INDIA alliance following the result announcement of the five Assembly elections- Telangana, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Mamata to meet PM Modi Mamata is also slated to meet PM Modi on Wednesday, December 20, as she seeks the release of dues the Centre owes to debt-strapped West Bengal. The opposition camp is also expected to finetune strategies to counter the BJPs rise. Previous INDIA meeting postponedAn earlier proposed INDIA conclave on December 6 had to be pushed to December 17 after key opposition leaders expressed inability to attend.Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav were among those who skipped the meeting called after assembly election verdicts.BJPs poll gains triggered meetThe Congress had proposed the multi-party meeting on the day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana assembly election results were announced.As the BJP crossed the halfway mark in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the urgency of conducting an opposition meeting increased prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.With key opposition satraps now expected to attend Tuesdays fourth INDIA meeting in Delhi, the stage is set for some political consolidation against the ruling BJP.
