At least 9 parties waiting to join I.N.D.I.A; 3 from Assam and 3 from UP

At least nine parties, including three each from Assam and Uttar Pradesh, are waiting at the doors to enter the I.N.D.I.A bloc, amid leaders indicating that more and more parties have shown their willingness to align with them.

Sources said a decision on their entry will be taken by the existing parties after consultations.

Parties like Assam Jatiya Parishad, Raijor Dal and Anchalik Gana Morcha from Assam, three from UP and one from West Bengal are among the nine parties, that have shown interest in aligning with the anti-BJP bloc.

AJP was formed by student organisations  All Assam Students Union (AASU) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) in September 2020 while Anchalik Gan Morcha is headed by Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Kumar Bhuyan. Raijor Dal is founded by transparency activist Akhil Gogoi.

I.N.D.I.A leaders have been insisting in the past couple of months that more and more parties would be joining them. On Wednesday, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said more parties would join the bloc. 

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he is in touch with several parties and a decision will be taken on their entry into the group through consensus. “I alone cannot take a decision,” he said.

While in Patna, there were 15 parties which participated in the discussions, it rose to 26 in Bengaluru. In Mumbai, two more parties, including the Peoples and Workers Party, will join the meeting.

On his arrival for the meeting on Thursday, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary said more like-minded parties are expected to join them in the coming days.

"Give us some time...more like-minded parties and leaders are expected to join the I.N.D.I.A alliance. We expect that parties all over the country which work on the ground and have a similar ideology will come together,” Chaudhary told reporters here.