WHO WILL BE THE SHOWSTOPPER?

New Delhi/Bengaluru: TUESDAY may well set the narrative for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, with the Opposition holding its second unity meeting in Bengaluru starting Monday, and the BJP reviving the moribund NDA to announce its own meeting coinciding with the Opposition’s.

For the Opposition, the key points on the agenda are deciding the contours of seat-sharing, and reaching greater coordination and communication. The BJP, which needs to win seats from new areas to compensate for the inevitable decline in the seats it won last time, is hoping to retain its old allies and get new ones, to fill the gap.

The Oppn meeting in Bengaluru follows the first such gathering in Patna last month to forge an anti-BJP political front. Meanwhile, a new, refurbished NDA led by the BJP is in the works, and its first outing is planned on Tuesday with a meeting of the alliance partners at a five-star hotel in New Delhi.