The Opposition on Tuesday named its grand alliance of as many as 26 parties as 'INDIA' (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance). The representatives of the 26 parties who met for the brainstorming meeting in Bengaluru also decided to set up an 11-member coordination committee, including all the major parties, and a ‘secretariat’ in Delhi for campaign management and for coordinating the working of various sub-committees, which will take up specific issues.
However, soon after a day of announcement of the name, several reports suggested that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was unhappy with the name choice because it has the letters, 'NDA' in it. Sources said that the name INDIA was proposed to everyone in an informal meeting on Monday. Suggestions were sought on the name from all opposition leaders and later on Tuesday, everyone agreed to it. However, after a lot of persuasion, the Bihar CM agreed to go with the name INDIA.
While, a group say that it was West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who coined the name, many say that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was instrumental in naming the alliance INDIA.
Notably, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav were not present in the press conference following the Bengaluru opposition meeting because the weather department predicted bad weather conditions and Nitish Kumar was getting late for a conference. Moreover, it needs to be mentioned that several opposition leaders like Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Kumar were not present at the press conference.
