BJP remembered NDA only after 26 Oppn parties came together: Sena (UBT)

Taking a dig at the BJP, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said the ruling party remembered the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) only after 26 opposition parties came together to form the grouping INDIA'.

Talking to reporters, he said the next meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), the coalition formed to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, will be in Mumbai.

He asserted that INDIA will defeat dictatorship in the country.

You have now remembered NDA only after we 26 (opposition) parties came together in Patna and Bengaluru as INDIA' for the country. It is only after meetings that your lotus (BJP's party symbol) started blooming, Raut said.

He added that INDIA will decide who the next prime minister will be.

Leaders of 38 parties, part of the NDA, met in Delhi on Tuesday.

In a meeting of 26 opposition parties, which included the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), in Bengaluru on Tuesday, a proposal was adopted unanimously to name their coalition as INDIA.

The original suggestion was to call it Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance, but the word democratic was replaced with developmental after some leaders said it sounded too similar to the ruling NDA.