Opposition Meeting in Patna: The June 23 meeting has been scheduled to chalk out a roadmap for the formation of an anti-BJP front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with Mamata Banerjee asserting that they will fight together ‘like a family’
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi have left for Patna, while former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah has reached the Bihar capital as top politicians from the Opposition parties gear up for key “anti-BJP” meeting.
The June 23 meeting has been scheduled to chalk out a roadmap for the formation of an anti-BJP front for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asserting that they will fight together “like a family” to take on the NDA “one to one”.
News agency PTI quoted its sources as saying that the Opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasize on building a common ground. Leaders of 15 parties including half-a-dozen chief ministers are expected to attend the deliberations.
THE VENUE AND WHO IS HOSTING THE MEETING
The Opposition picked Patna as a venue for its meeting as it represents the 1974 call of total revolution by Jayaprakash Narayan that toppled Indira Gandhi’s majority government.
The meeting will be hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with an aim to arrive at a consensus to forge a united Opposition front to take on the BJP.
OPPOSITION LEADERS ON THEIR WAY TO PATNA
Besides Kharge, Gandhi and Abdullah, Maharashtra’s former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray along with Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut were seen leaving from Mumbai. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar also left for Bihar’s capital from Pune.
OPPOSITION LEADERS ALREADY IN PATNA, WHO SKIPPED
As leaders of several opposition parties arrived in Patna on Thursday, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary decided to skip the conclave due to a “pre-decided family programme”. Chaudhary, however, hoped the meeting will be an “important milestone in the path of opposition unity”.
This came after the Janata Dal (United), which is hosting the meet, said Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has not been invited to the event.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal arrived in Patna on Thursday. (Photo: PTI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti were among the leaders who reached Patna ahead of the meeting.
THOSE IN OPPOSITION NOT INVITED
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, who was not invited for the big meeting, took a dig at the meeting with sarcastic remark, “Dil mile ya na mile, haath milate rahiye“.
She also used another Hindi proverb “Muh me Ram, bagal me chhuri” and said the opposition parties should have cleared their intentions before the meeting. Mayawati said Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats and a key to electoral success but the opposition parties do not seem to be serious about their objectives.
UNEASE IN CONGRESS OVER ARVIND KEJRIWAL’S DEMAND?
Kejriwal wrote to opposition leaders, urging them to discuss the Centre’s ordinance on the control of services in Delhi at the June 23 meeting. However, state-specific issues may not be taken up for discussion in the first such meeting. There is some unease in Congress over the Aam Aadmi Party’s suggestion that Opposition leaders clarify their positions on the Centre’s ordinance.
Reacting to it, Mallikarjun Kharge while leaving for Patna on Friday said, “We all want to fight together against BJP and our agenda is to remove the BJP govt… We will take a decision on this (on supporting AAP against the Centre’s ordinance) before the Parliament session.”
REACTION FROM BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY
• Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, Vijay Kumar Sinha, said, “They have forgotten that Bihar never supports corrupt people. Congress was defeated, then RJD (Lalu Yadav) lost its power, and now it’s time for Nitish Kumar. He will lose the CM post and will get zero seats.”
• BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad took a jibe at the Opposition leaders, asking who is the groom in this marriage party (a sarcastic comment aiming to know the main contender from united Opposition who’ll fight against PM Modi in 2024). “Nitish Kumar 2024 ke liye baaraat saja rahe hai Patna mai, baaraat me to dulha bhi hota hai, pr is baaraat ka dulha kon hai?” he asked.
• Taking a dig at the Opposition over the mega meeting, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi said all the Opposition leaders accused of “corruption” have come together fearing arrest once Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns for a third term in office after next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
(With inputs from agencies)
