New Delhi The opposition INDIA group of parties will meet in the next 10 to 15 days to fill some positions, including a convener, in the run up to the Lok Sabha election, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Saturday.

The meeting is being planned amid a growing tussle within the opposition bloc for the post of convener. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is considered as a candidate.

When asked who is the possible convener, Kharge said, “You are asking like Kaun Banega Crorepati . When we meet, it will be decided under what process which posts would go to which leader. It will be done after 10-15 days. So far, everyone has agreed to all the decisions. We are working unitedly and there is no problem.”

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Kharge also announced that the Congress will appoint 500 observers for the 543 Lok Sabha seats as a part of the party’s poll preparations, in case allies disagree with the party on seats. Congress has not yet decided on how many seats it will fight alone, the party president said.

“We have already finalized 500 observers. They will go and assess in each parliamentary constituency. Since the INDIA alliance is here, negotiations will happen. But we are trying to put our efforts everywhere,” he said. “Today we are thinking we will get ‘A’ seat and suppose our alliance partner doesn’t agree and offers us ‘C’ seat. Therefore, we are putting 500 observers in each constituency.”

Hours later, a Trinamool Congress leader emphasised that unless seat- sharing is done, no other issue should be discussed. Trinamool leaders have indicated that they might push for other leaders as the convener, which is considered a powerful position in an alliance.

“From June 23, it has been 200 days since we formed the alliance. The seat- sharing has to be the first item on the agenda. In the spirit of coalition politics, we are waiting patiently,” said a Trinamool lawmaker from the Rajya Sabha, who is involved in the process. “Unless seat- sharing is finalized, no other agenda should be discussed.”

The talks on sharing seats will be wrapped up by the third week of January, Congress leaders indicated. In an interview to HT, Salman Khurshid, a member of the national alliance committee of the Congress, said talks will start with the Aam Aadmi Party for Delhi and with Janata Dal (United) on Sunday.

The Congress’ alliance committee led by Mukul Wasnik are “doing their best” and are meeting “every two days, on alternate days, to finalise what is to be done and where we have to demand seats”, Kharge said.

“Our team is first holding preliminary meetings with our people, including PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) chiefs and CLP (Congress legislative party) leaders. Then they will speak to leaders of other states. Whatever comes out from such talks, it will be decided on what they (other parties) want and what we want and it will be decided then,” he said.

A section of the INDIA alliance, meanwhile, claimed that appointing conveners or other posts might not be an easy task as parties have reservations about certain individuals. In the last meeting, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal pitched Kharge as the prime ministerial face, a move that irked Nitish Kumar.