As many as 200 rooms have been reserved at the uber-luxurious Grand Hyatt hotel at Kalina to accommodate leaders of 27 non-BJP parties who will be taking part in the third conclave of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) scheduled for August 31 and September 1. Earlier meetings were held at Patna and Bengaluru. At the Mumbai meet, the symbol of the bloc and a common minimum programme are expected to be finalised. The question of electing a prime ministerial candidate will be left undecided in the absence of consensus.
The hotel management is working overtime in tandem with leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) to make a grand success of the mega event. The hotel's website says that it is in the "vicinity" of the Bandra-Kurla Complex. Situated on a 10-acre sprawl a little away from the Western Express Highway, the hotel opened its doors in 2004 and since then it has been a favourite with business leaders, international tourists and Bollywood celebs. Incidentally, its staff union is controlled by Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena.
The main host will be Uddhav Thackeray, who has mobilised all his key cadres to ensure that the arrangements are put in place seamlessly. He is being assisted by his son Aaditya and Anil Desai, a Rajya Sabha M.P. and a fierce loyalist of the Thackeray family. Aaditya has placed cadres of the Yuva Sena on the alert to ensure that the meeting is not disturbed by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde). Former chief minister Ashok Chavan and ex-Union minister Milind Deora are in the key organising committee, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar) will be represented by Supriya Sule M.P. and Jayant Patil, state president. Police commissioner Vivek Phansalkar and special commissioner Deven Bharti have given detailed instructions to the police force to ensure that the meeting takes place without any glitch.
Designed by Chicago's Lohan Associates, the hotel boasts of 548 room and serviced apartments and four fine dine restaurants. Each room costs Rs 14,000 per night. However, discounts will be given for bulk bookings. The leaders have the option of dining at Soma for authentic Indian food, 55 East is multi-cuisine, including Thai, Japanese and Lebanese Mezze, Celini offers Italian fare and China House. A large fleet of limousines has been organised to ferry the "netas'' from the airport to the hotel and back.
The anti-Modi leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Bannerjee and Siddharamiah of Karnataka will be taking part in the deliberations on finalising a common strategy to ensure that PM Modi does not return to power in 2024. On August 30 afternoon, Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, Ashok Chavan and Nana Patole will brief the media about the arrangements and another press meet will be held on September 1 to inform mediapersons about the decisions taken at the closed door meet.
