Samajwadi Party general secretary Shivpal Singh Yadav, on Sunday, expressed the confidence that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) would defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 general elections.

Shivpal Yadav said in Muzaffarnagar that the opposition alliance was working on seat-sharing and there was still time to decide the distribution of seats. He said talks would be held on the issue.

“The INDIA bloc will unitedly accomplish the task of removing the BJP from power,” Yadav claimed.

The SP leader’s remarks come ahead of the December 19 meeting of the opposition alliance in Delhi where seat-sharing and other issues will be discussed.

To a question about Bahujan Samaj Party joining the opposition alliance, Shivpal Yadav said the BSP leadership should first distance themselves from the BJP and not work as a B-team of the ruling party.

Asked about who will be the prime ministerial candidate of the INDIA bloc, Shivpal Yadav said that the alliance had several faces. “We still have time. It will not be an issue,” he added.

The SP general secretary said that he had come to Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur to strengthen the party.

Evolving a core positive agenda, seat-sharing and a consensus on holding joint rallies are among the main challenges before the INDIA bloc that will be taken up at its meeting in the national capital on December 19.

The opposition parties intend to move forward with the unity theme ‘Main Nahin, Hum’ (We, Not Me) as a counter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The meeting is being held against the backdrop of the poor show of the Congress in the just concluded assembly elections in which it suffered humiliating defeats in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.