In an effort to form an alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal invited the chief ministers of seven states governed by political parties other than other the Bharatiya Janata Party to dinner on March 18. Sadly, none of them showed up.
According to the reports, Kejriwal did not invite the Congress leaders to the dinner. But none of the other invited leaders appeared for the event. The development is considered a blow to the Aam Aadmi Party’s desire to establish a coalition of parties that are not affiliated with the BJP or the Congress in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
According to the letter sent by the AAP chief earlier this month, the scheduled dinner of the eight politicians, including Kejriwal, which he referred to as the “Progressive Chief Ministers Group of India or G-8,” was to be concluded by a press conference the following day.
The invitation letters were sent to the CMs of West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and Punjab’s chief ministers. The national capital’s Kapurthala House was set to host the event.
“It is delightful that ‘The Progressive Chief Ministers’ Group of India or G-8′ will convene for its inaugural meeting and launch in Delhi. It would be great to usher in a new era of inter-state cooperation. Let us gather for a dinner meeting in Delhi on the evening of 18th March 2023. This will be our first meeting and it will give us an opportunity to discuss the way forward for the group,” Kejriwal stated in the letter.
The leader of the Aam Aadmi Party had advised that the prospective G-8 grouping have a joint press conference and announce itself to the Indian populace. “Let us come together to mark a new beginning for our states and our country,” he said as he concluded the letter. Kejriwal has however issued no statement on the current development.
Reports mention that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee received the letter on February 5 and was about to attend the dinner, but dropped it last minute. During a meeting with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav last week, Banerjee said that Trinamool Congress would contest the Lok Sabha elections independently of the Congress and the BJP.
The spokesman for her party denied any notion of a third front but said that regional leaders, including former NDA partners, would band together ahead of the general elections in 2024.
Further, though Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had seen Arvind Kejriwal on his trip to Delhi right after joining the Mahagathbandhan, the Janata Dal-United, which is in power in Bihar in coalition with the Rashtriya Janata Dal, has been wary of being associated with the AAP.
It is notable here that though certain CMs like Mamata Banerjee and Telangana’s KCR had tried a lot to start a ‘Third Front’ before the 2019 general elections, the efforts were futile as the parties seem to be unable to come to an agreement.
A recent letter condemning the CBI’s actions against Manish Sisodia was not signed by the JD-U, which serves as a case in point. The JD-U then seemed to be following Congress’ lead, which is its ally in Bihar. Both the Kerala CMO and Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam refrained from commenting on the situation, a PTI report stated.
