BJP 'scared' of facing united opposition in 2024: Tejashwi Yadav

NEW DELHI: With stage set for the mega opposition meeting in Patna on June 23, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday claimed that the BJP was "scared" of fighting the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Around 15 political parties are expected to attend the meeting, which will see several leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar Uddhav Thackeray and MK Stalin in attendance. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has been the driving force behind this effort, had insisted on participation by heads of political parties.
Nitish, along with his deputy Tejashwi, had met several opposition leaders in the last few months to prepare ground for this meeting, which many leaders claim could be the first step towards uniting opposition parties against BJP for the 2024 electoral battle.
With Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav playing a key role in this effort, the Bihar BJP leaders have been quick to make light of this opposition conclave.
Tejashwi reacted strongly to the remarks of some BJP leaders and said, "It is not for the BJP to decide what impact the opposition conclave is going to have. They are scared of facing the Lok Sabha polls. They recently lost assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. They are staring at a series of defeats in states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Haryana."
Tejashwi and JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan' had on Wednesday announced that the opposition parties' conclave will be held on June 23 and leaders as diverse as Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee and Sitaram Yechury have given their assent to attend the meeting.
However, there is still no clarity on the participation of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) founder and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
"We have not spoken to him so far," Tejashwi said when asked about KCR.
Last year, KCR had flown down to Patna shortly after Nitish Kumar's exit from the NDA and endorsed the latter's pitch for national unity.
However, there are apprehensions that the Telangana CM might flinch from joining any formation of which the Congress, currently his principal rival in the state, was a part.
The BRS has dropped ample hints that instead of becoming a part of a "united opposition" it would try to showcase the "Telangana model".