In what appears to be a fresh sign of trouble within the INDIA alliance partners, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday blamed the Congress party for the lack of progress in Opposition’s preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024.

Kumar, the key architect of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, said that the Congress party was given the leadership role in the alliance but it is busy with assembly elections in five states, which, he believed, has been hindering their preparations for 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing a rally in Communist Party of India (CPI-M) rally in Patna, Nitish Kumar said, “We have been speaking to them… pushing them forward in INDIA alliance. But, of late, there has not been much progress on that front. The Congress seems to be more interested in the five assembly polls.”

“We agreed to assign Congress the leading role. But it appears they will call the next meeting only after they are through with the state elections,” the Janata Dal (United) leader added.

The Opposition’s INDIA bloc leader have not met since September 1 when they held their last meeting in Mumbai. The Congress party was assigned the leadership role and was supposed to decide on the next date of INDIA bloc leaders’ meeting.

However, the party has not announced the date of next meeting as its leaders are busy in election campaign in five states – Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram – where elections will held later this month.

At least 28 Opposition parties have come together to form an alliance – Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) – to take on the mighty BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Opposition parties, who are part of the INDIA bloc, have resolved to fight the next general elections together “as far as possible”.

However, there has been no such agreement for state elections and the INDIA partners are fighting the assembly polls individually and in some cases against each other.

The statement from Nitish Kumar comes days after Akhilesh Yadav, whose Samajwadi Party is also a member of the INDIA bloc, accused the Congress of “betrayal” in Madhya Pradesh assembly elections. Akhilesh said that the Congress made him release that the INDIA alliance is only for the national level and not applicable in state elections.