Opposition meeting in Patna: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will participate in the Opposition party meeting, scheduled to be held in Bihar's Patna on June 12. Bihar Chief Minister and JDU leader Nitish Kumar has convened the meeting. The June 12 meeting has been called by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in consultation with leaders of various parties and several chief ministers of opposition-ruled states. Senior leaders of opposition parties are expected to attend the meeting.
Congress to attend Opposition meeting
The Congress on Thursday said it will participate in the June 12 meeting of opposition parties in Patna. However, the party is yet to decide on who will attend the meeting. “The Congress will surely participate in the June 12 meeting of opposition leaders in Patna. However, who will participate is not decided. The Congress party will soon decide who will attend the meeting," AICC general secretary communications Jairam Ramesh told reporters.
"But, the Congress is surely attending that opposition meeting," he asserted. Rahul Gandhi is currently on a visit to the US and Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge is yet to decide on whether he would represent the party at the Patna meeting.
Nitish Kumar’s efforts to forge a united front against BJP
Notably, Bihar CM Kumar met several opposition leaders last month as part of efforts to forge a united front against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He had met Kharge and Rahul Gandhi last month and prior to that, he had a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Significantly, Bihar Chief Minister Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah attended the swearing-in ceremony of Siddaramaiah as the Karnataka chief minister on Saturday, in a show of opposition unity. Some regional leaders, including Kejriwal and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, were not invited to the ceremony. Kumar, though, has been trying to bring them on board as well.
Opposition plan to defeat BJP
The opposition has plans to put forward one common candidate to defeat the BJP to upstage them from power at the Centre, but some have expressed reservations over such a proposal as some parties have aspirations to contest the maximum number of seats.
The Congress also is not inclined to restrict itself to around 200 seats and wants to contest more seats, claiming that it is a national player unlike many regional outfits and has a presence across the country. It has also contended that it is the only party that can directly take on the BJP due to its national footprint. The Congress' contention has got a boost after the Karnataka win where it emphatically beat BJP in a direct contest.
The Janata Dal (U), Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress are in a coalition government in Bihar and the three parties have been in talks to bring other opposition parties together on a common platform in their fight against the BJP. Kharge had earlier spoken to several opposition leaders including M K Stalin and Uddhav Thackeray, in an attempt to forge unity among like-minded parties to take on the BJP.
(With agencies input)
