“All parties are coming together to save one family,” says Akali Dal leader

Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], August 31 (ANI): Ahead of the third meeting of the INDIA alliance, Shiromani Akali Dal senior leader Prem Singh Chandumajra took a jibe at senior Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and said, “It seems that all parties are coming together to save one family.”

  Meanwhile, the Akali Dal leader also clarified his party’s stand on support for the NDA Alliance and INDIA Alliance and said, “We are neither with NDA nor with INDIA coalition”.  He further stated that Shiromani Akali Dal will not support any coalition that does not support federalism. 

“Shiromani Akali Dal had made it clear from the first day with the INDIA alliance that we are neither with the NDA nor with the INDIA coalition, we are not with any such coalition that does not support federalism,” he said.  As the battle heats up for next year’s Lok Sabha elections, the 26-member Opposition bloc — INDIA — will on Thursday hold its third meeting in Mumbai, picking up from where they left off in their last huddle at Bengaluru and carrying forward the process of laying a broader roadmap against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre.

While the discussion among the partner leaders in the bloc would centre on the battle plan for the next general elections and a seat-sharing formula, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is also likely to unveil its logo during the two-day meeting starting Thursday.

The INDIA leaders would go into an informal huddle on Thursday and the same would be followed by a formal meeting on September 1. While the inaugural meeting of the Opposition bloc was convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the third meeting is being organised by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Opposition alliance in Maharashtra comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar.