A week after deferring the appointment of a convener for the opposition bloc INDI Alliance, 14 major parties are set to meet virtually tomorrow (13 January) to decide on the position.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had last Saturday suggested that the INDI Alliance would gather in “10 to 15 days” to decide on significant positions.

However, Janata Dal United’s (JDU) harsh response might have pushed for an earlier meeting. JDU is constantly mounting pressure for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to be appointed as the convener.

Heads of the Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar), DMK, Shiv Sena (UBT), AAP, RJD, Trinamool Congress (TMC), CPI, JMM, National Conference, PDP, JDU, Samajwadi Party, and the CPI(M) will join the meeting.

According to Indian Express, Congress is ready to accept Kumar as convener if other parties accept. However, it is being said that TMC is not very enthusiastic about this idea.

Earlier, Mamata Banerjee had suggested the name of Mallikarjun Kharge as the Prime Ministerial candidate of INDI Alliance. This idea was supported by Arvind Kejriwal but couldn’t get much traction in the bloc.

The decision for a virtual meeting comes a day after the TMC reportedly indicated that they wouldn’t meet the Congress’ five-member national alliance committee to negotiate seat-sharing agreements.