A total of 38 parties will participate in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting to be convened in Delhi on Tuesday, Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda announced on Monday. Tuesday’s meeting in Delhi will clash with a similar meeting in Bengaluru, Karnataka, where 24 Opposition parties will get together for a brainstorming session on the strategy to defeat the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

The meetings, primarily being seen as a show of strength by the warring sides, are significant for the BJP as well as the Opposition. While the former battles a question of existence, the latter, a race against time to plug the gaps should it fall short in areas where it peaked in the last two elections.

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“The country has decided that once again in 2024, the NDA government will be formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. Our unity is rooted in the interest of the country. It is unbreakable, it is firm,” Nadda said addressing a press conference in Delhi today.

Taking potshots at the Opposition alliance that has started to take shape, Nadda said that the UPA coalition was a bunch of “corruption and scams”. The alliance has no leader, no intention and no power to take decisions, he added.

The NDA meeting in the national capital will see the presence of top BJP leaders, including PM Modi, besides leaders of existing allies as well as some new ones. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his newly-appointed deputy Ajit Pawar will be present at the meeting.

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Om Prakash Rajbhar of the SBSP, which has recently realigned with the BJP and Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) are among other notable attendees. The meeting comes in the backdrop of BJP pulling out all stops to reach out to new allies and mend fences with those estranged in the recent past.

The BJP, it appears, is working on this nuanced approach to settle two of its biggest worries – the unsettling caste equation and the perception that BJP does not take allies along. It is to address these apprehensions that the BJP’s top leadership is reaching out to parties like the TDP, JD(S), SBSP and LJP (Ram Vilas), besides making attempts to win back old friends like the Akali Dal.

On the other hand, leaders of 24 Opposition parties have started to converge in Bengaluru for the second meeting of Opposition leaders with a view to thrash out crucial issues and put up a joint fight against the BJP. The two-day convention will see an informal gathering on Monday before taking up crucial issues for discussion on Tuesday.