The indecision continues over the date for the very first rally of the INDIA bloc, which for now is scheduled to be held in Nagpur, Maharashtra. The festival season and hectic poll preparations for Assembly elections in five States have thrown the plans for the bloc’s first rally into disarray. The election season also has put on the back-burner the INDIA bloc’s Mumbai resolution to finalise its seat-sharing arrangements at the earliest.
According to sources, the INDIA bloc is considering a band of dates between October 20 to November 10. This continued uncertainty comes after the fiasco of declaring Bhopal as the venue after the first meeting of the bloc’s coordination panel on September 13, and then unceremoniously cancelling it.
“There are many factors that are coming in the way. There are urban local bodies elections on 4th in Nagpur, there are festivals around the same time and the ongoing campaign for the assembly polls in five states. But we are hopeful that one of the dates between October 20th to November 10th will be fixed for the rally,” a senior opposition leader said. Originally, the rally was planned for the first week of October in Bhopal, but Congress’s Madhya Pradesh chief Kamal Nath shot down the plan, citing campaign commitments.
