Opposition Parties Strategize Anti-BJP Front, AAP Absent Over Delhi Ordinance Issue

Patna: The 17 Opposition parties, which met in Patna on Friday to strategise a comprehensive plan to form an anti-BJP front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, decided to hold the next meeting in Shimla on July 10–12. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge made the announcement during a joint press conference in Patna. He said that the common agenda will be prepared to work and contest the Lok Sabha elections in a collective manner.

"The next meeting will be held in Shimla between July 10 and July 12. During the meeting, we will discuss and frame a common agenda to fight against the BJP while working in our states", Kharge said, adding that "the Congress ideology can never be separated from Bihar".

Amid the Opposition meeting, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP said on Friday that it will not be part of any future Opposition gatherings that include the Congress till it opposes the Centre’s ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi.

Reports suggest that the Delhi chief minister, who arrived in Patna to attend the Opposition meeting along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, left the venue early and returned to Delhi.

At the press conference, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had convened the meeting, sought to downplay the AAP's absence. Kumar clarified, "Kejriwal left because he had to return to Delhi".

Sources said that Kejriwal's insistence that the Congress clarify its stance on the Delhi ordinance issue caused unease among the Congress leaders here.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee asserted that the Opposition parties will fight against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While addressing the press meet Banerjee said, "We have united and we will fight collectively. We will raise our voice against the fascist government and oppose their (the BJP’s) political agenda".

"Don’t call us the Opposition parties, we are also citizens of this country and chant Bharat Mata ki Jai. We also feel pain when Manipur burns. We will stand against the BJP’s atrocities and dictatorship. They send the ED and CBI if people stand up and speak against them", Banerjee said.

While regional leaders gave credit to Kumar for organising the meeting and bringing various parties, including the Congress, on one platform, Banerjee said, "It was her idea to hold a meeting in Patna because what starts from here turns out to be a mass movement".

Ahead of the mega Opposition meeting, while addressing Congress workers, Rahul Gandhi asserted that the party will defeat the BJP in the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

"Aapka mood kaisa hai? Mood acha hai?" Gandhi asked party workers who had gathered to greet him at Sadaquat Ashram in Patna.

"You saw what happened in Karnataka. The BJP made tall claims and big speeches there, but what happened? The BJP will be wiped out during elections in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan. The Congress is standing with the poor. We are here to spread love and they believe in hatred", Gandhi added.

RJD chief Lalu Yadav was also present during the meeting. Later, while addressing that press conference, he said that the united Opposition will dislodge the BJP from power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"You will see what will happen to the BJP in the coming elections. They will be wiped out. You saw what happened to them in Karnataka. Lord Hanuman thrashed them with his mace. Lord Hanuman is now with us and they (the BJP) will be defeated", the RJD chief said.

Yadav was the last to speak during the press conference. His presence at the Opposition meeting is also being seen as his return to active political life after a long gap. He had been ill since his release from prison.

"You can see that I am fit and active now", Yadav said.

He also used the occasion to crack a joke on Gandhi. He asked him to shave his beard and get married.

"You should get married and we will be joining you as baratis. Your mom told me that you don’t listen to her, I ask you to get married", Yadav said.

Around 17 political parties attended the mega Opposition meeting in Patna, which was hosted by the Bihar CM. Among those who attended the event were Mr Kharge, Mr Gandhi and K.C. Venugopal from the Congress, the RJD supremo; Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav; Ms Banerjee; Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin; Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren; former Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena (UTB) chief Udhav Thackeray and NCP’s Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule and Praful Patel.

Top left leaders D. Raja, Sitaram Yechuri and Dipankar Bhattacharya, as well as former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mahbooba Mufti, were present at the meeting. Former UP CM and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was also present at the meeting.