Patna: On Friday, the major Opposition party heads met here to plan the formation of an anti-BJP front in time for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Nitish Kumar, of the JD(U), and Tejashwi Yadav, of the RJD, are the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Bihar, respectively, and are hosting the meeting. Kumar, as host, presided over the meeting, with Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Congress, and Lalu Prasad, leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, at his side.
The meeting took place at the 1, Aney Marg, residence of the chief minister of Bihar, where it was reported that more than 30 leaders of 15 Opposition parties attended.
According to the sources, the conference was viewed as a first step towards a united front against the Narendra Modi-led BJP.
Therefore, they stated, the sensitive issue of seat sharing and leadership problems will be postponed for the time being in favour of deliberating on a basic blueprint and road map for Opposition unity.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, party leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (TMC), her Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab's Bhagwant Mann (AAP), Tamil Nadu's M K Stalin (DMK), Jharkhand's Hemant Soren (JMM), Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav, Maharashtra's former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), and NCP president Sharad Pawar are among the leaders attending the first high-level Opposition meeting.
In addition to PDP and CPI(M) and CPI and CPI(ML) and National Conference leaders, the meeting also includes CPI and CPI(ML) leaders.
Kharge tweeted in Hindi that protecting the Constitution and democracy was their "sole responsibility," along with pictures from the meeting. The purpose of our gathering is to chart a new course for the nation. Sources from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that their party will walk out of the conference if the Congress did not commit its support against the Centre's law on the control of administrative services in Delhi, which was announced a day before the important deliberations.
To what extent the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in the national capital would feature prominently in the debates, as requested by the AAP, is the central question.
The Congress has been playing it coy on whether or not it will back the AAP if the BJP-led Centre puts the ordinance to a vote in Parliament.
When asked about the ordinance controversy and the AAP's ultimatum on Friday morning before he left for Patna, Kharge said his party would make a decision on it before Parliament's Monsoon session and questioned why it was being discussed elsewhere.
It's not debated or proposed on the streets; rather, it takes place in Parliament. The parties in Parliament reach consensus on the matters on which they will cooperate before the session begins. Even their top officials attend our all-party gatherings because they are aware of this fact. The outside media attention baffles Kharge.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed party members before the conference and promised that the BJP will be soundly defeated in the 2024 general election if all Opposition parties worked together.
He claimed that a battle of ideologies was taking place in India and accused the BJP of trying to "divide India and spread hate and violence."
While speaking to Congress members and leaders in Patna, Gandhi compared the Congress' "Bharat Jodo" ideology to that of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
You are aware of the futility of trying to fight hate with more hate. Only love can conquer it. He went on to say, "That is why we have come to Bihar because the DNA of the Congress is in Bihar," implying that the Congress's mission is to promote national unity and love. "All Opposition parties have come here and together we are going to defeat the BJP," Gandhi declared.
The former Congress head in Karnataka claimed that the result of the BJP's campaigning and public appearances was obvious.
As soon as the Congress came together in Karnataka, the BJP vanished. From this podium, I declare that the BJP will fail miserably in the states of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh and that the Congress will triumph.
At the same gathering, Kharge said, "if we win in Bihar, we will win the country" in reference to the upcoming general election in 2024.
Before the gathering, Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, called it a "war cry" against a "fascist and autocratic regime." Since BSP supremo Mayawati was not invited and Rashtriya Lok Dal head Jayant Chaudhary was unable to attend due to a family commitment, the Samajwadi Party is the only Uttar Pradesh-based political party represented at the meeting.
The state of Uttar Pradesh sends the most representatives to the Lok Sabha, a total of 80.
After arriving here on Thursday night, West Bengal's Chief Minister Banerjee met with Lalu Yadav, leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, as well as former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav.
Reporters outside Tejashwi Yadav's house on Thursday asked her what would be discussed at the meeting, and she responded, "I cannot disclose anything now. We've all come because we intend to battle tooth and nail (against the BJP). We are a family, and we fight as a family.—Inputs from Agencies