Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said that there was a need for an alliance of the Opposition parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, PTI reported. He said that the question of who would lead the alliance was not a matter of concern at this point.

Pawar said he would hold discussions on the prospective alliance with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the Winter Session of Parliament, The Times of India reported.

The Winter Session will begin on November 29.

“Who will be the leader of that alliance is not an issue,” Pawar said at a press conference, according to PTI. “Today, there is a need to give an option, that is what people desire and we will take the support of various parties to fulfill people’s desire.”

The Nationalist Congress Party was speaking to reporters in Nagpur after meeting representatives of the Nagpur Vidarbha Chamber of Commerce. The representatives expressed concerns about the losses they faced due to recent violence in parts of Maharashtra.

Fourteen people, including BJP leaders, were arrested in Amravati earlier this week, after violence erupted in the city during a shutdown observed by the saffron party. The BJP gave the call for the shutdown on Saturday in response to a protest staged by a Muslim organisation on Friday against the recent communal violence in Tripura.

On Thursday, Pawar also responded to former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ remark calling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government as the “most corrupt” in the state’s history. Pawar said that the BJP leader had become restless after the party lost power.