India’s Congress Party has reclaimed its position as the nucleus of a 28-party opposition alliance to take on ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in coming general elections.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was on Saturday named as the Chairperson of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance at its virtual meeting held to review seat-sharing among the parties for the Lok Sabha polls.

At the same time, differences in the alliance persisted about the role of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, senior leader of regional outfit Janata Dal (United), in the alliance after he was earlier reported to be in the race for the alliance chairman.

A section of Indian media said Nitish Kumar rejected the post of convener of the alliance while another section reported that he would accept the post only if there is a consensus

Nitish’s name as the alliance convener had circulated among the opposition circles at a time when there was no plan to have a chairperson of the alliance. But during the December 19 meeting of the opposition coalition where Trinamool Congress chief bloc Mamata and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal surprised all by proposing Kharge’s name as chairperson and the opposition’s prime ministerial face.

At yesterday’s meeting, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury proposed Nitish’s name as convener and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav endorsing it. But Nitish was reportedly not impressed because he viewed the post of chairman more important and he did not want to play second fiddle as convener.

Nitish has reasons to be unhappy as it was he who is credited with bringing together disparate parties in the opposition alliance and expected due recognition for his efforts, opposition sources said.

Kumar said he would accept the post of convener only if there was a consensus among allies in the face of reported reservations from Mamata and Kejriwal.

Mamata did not take part in yesterday’s meeting of the nascent opposition coalition formed to stop the long-standing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from securing a third consecutive tenure in office to rule India in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the previous Lok Sabha elections of 2019, the then United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Congress had secured 91 seats and NDA 353 seats and others 98 seats in the 542-member Lok Sabha elected directly by over 900 million eligible voters of India.

Of 28 parties that are part of the opposition alliance, only ten, Congress, DMK, JD(U), RJD, AAP, CPI-M, CPI, NCP, JMM and National Conference, attended the meeting yesterday. Besides Mamata, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were also absent.

As the opposition alliance grapples with seat-sharing among them, Congress suffered a jolt when its leader and former federal minister Milind Deora today said he had resigned from the primary membership of the party amidst speculation that he may join Maharashtra state chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena which is an ally of BJP. It was Shinde’s revolt against  Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena with a majority of lawmakers that led to the fall of Uddhav as chief minister making way for Shinde.

In a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Milind Deora, a member South Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, said "Today marks the conclusion of a significant chapter in my political journey. I have tendered my resignation from the primary membership of the Congress, ending my family's 55 year relationship with the party.”

Congress alleged the timing of the announcement of Milind’s resignation from the party hours before Rahul Gandhi begins a cross-country road show from the north eastern state of Manipur was determined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Both Milind Deora and his late father Murli Deora had served as Lok sabha MP from Mumbai South.