Ahead of Opposition meet in Patna, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his address to party workers reiterated that his party was spreading 'Mohabbat' to counter 'hate' - a pitch which he coined during his Bharat Jodo Yatra days.
Former Congress president, who reached Patna to attend Opposition's mega meeting, addressed party workers.
"There is a war of ideology going on in India. On one side is Congress party's 'Bharat Jodo' ideology and on the other RSS and BJP's 'Bharat Todo' ideology ...Congress party's DNA is in Bihar," said Gandhi.
He asserted BJP is working to spread hate and violence and Congress is working to spread love and unity to counter the hate campaign led by the saffron party.
"Opposition parties have come here today and together we will defeat BJP," he added.
He opened with thanking the people of Bihar to support him during the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.
"Wherever I went, I found people from Bihar were with me during the yatra. You came forward to support me because you believe in the ideology. Our party believe in the ideology of love and unity," he added.
Earlier, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and other Opposition leaders, including TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal arrived at Patna.
Sources said 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.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann (AAP), Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin (DMK), Jharkhand CM 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 will attend the first high-level opposition meeting.
It is being hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (JDU) and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav (RJD) here at the chief minister's 1, Aney Marg residence.
Leaders of the PDP, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) and the National Conference are also expected to attend the meeting.
West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee, who arrived here in the evening, met Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav, former Bihar CM Rabri Devi and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav here.
The TMC chief, however, avoided questions on her reservations about the Congress party's alliance with the Left in her state and the Aam Aadmi Party threatening a "walkout" if the Congress support was not forthcoming on the Delhi ordinance issue.
Kejriwal and Mann also arrived in Patna Thursday evening and visited the Patna Sahib gurudwara.
Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, CPI chief D Raja, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti reached Patna Thursday.
Sources said the meeting was being seen as a starting point for the Opposition to come together to take on the Narendra Modi-led BJP dispensation.
Therefore, a basic outline and roadmap for the Opposition unity are likely to be deliberated upon with the contentious issue of seat-sharing and the leadership question to be avoided for now, they said.
Also read: 'Mohabbat ki dukan' stall, 'pariwar bachao': Patna witnesses poster war ahead of Oppn meet
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