Next meet in Shimla to prepare common agenda
Patna: Drawing the battle lines, Opposition parties on Friday resolved to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections at a crucial meeting here, even as fissures emerged with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) asserting that it would be difficult for it to be part of any such gathering in future till the Congress publicly supports it on the ordinance issue.
At a joint press meeting, the Opposition parties said they would fight the polls on a common agenda and state-wise strategy, setting aside their differences with a flexible approach.
The plan of action is expected to be formulated at the second meeting to be chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, tentatively on July 10 or July 12, in Shimla.
“We will have to evolve separate plans for every state and we will work together to dethrone the BJP at the Centre,” Kharge said.
Launching a blistering attack on the BJP, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee claimed that if the “dictatorial government” at the Centre returns to power this time, there will be no elections in the future.
Over 32 leaders of more than a dozen political parties attended the meeting hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his 1, Aney Marg residence here.
While Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party), Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal), K. Chandrashekar Rao (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) and
Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy (Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party) were not invited, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary did not attend the meeting due to a “predetermined family programme”.
There was lack of clarity on the exact number of parties that pledged to take on the BJP unitedly with leaders such as Nitish Kumar and Banerjee putting the number at 17 and some others like Yechury stating that 15 parties were there.
The BJP reacted strongly to the Opposition meeting, calling it a “multi-headed selfish alliance” and compared it with wolves hunting in packs.
Home Minister Amit Shah described the Opposition unity meeting as a mere “photo session”.
Despite repeated assertions by the Opposition parties that they were united, fissures in their ranks became apparent when AAP issued a statement after the meeting, claiming that the Congress has “refused” to publicly denounce the Centre’s ordinance on Delhi’s administrative services.
The Arvind Kejriwal-led outfit said that until the Congress publicly denounces the Centre’s ordinance on Delhi’s administrative services and declares that all 31 of its Rajya Sabha MPs will oppose the ordinance in the RS, it will be difficult for AAP to participate in future meetings of like-minded parties where the Congress is a participant.
Congress’ silence raises suspicions about its real intentions, the AAP said in the statement.
West Bengal Chief Minister asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal to sort out their issues on the Delhi ordinance over a cup of tea and biscuits at a later date, reminding them that the Patna Opposition meeting was not the ideal forum for the discussion, sources said.
According to sources, Congress chief Kharge gave in-principle support on the issue, saying his party does not support anything unconstitutional. The Congress has a set mechanism for taking up issues and an announcement on it will be done at a later date, he said.
Earlier, the Congress chief had said the party will take a decision before monsoon session of the Parliament.
Sources said at no point Kejriwal threatened to walk out of the meeting. In fact, all the Opposition party members in attendance sided with the Congress and maintained that the Congress’ line on the issue was a “reasonable one”.
During the meeting, Rahul Gandhi said that he was attending the meeting with a clean slate “without any memory of past likes or dislikes with any of the parties in attendance”, according to sources. He also said he and his party would do anything to keep the Opposition parties together.
“We may have some differences but have decided to work together with flexibility and will work to protect our ideology,” Gandhi said and alleged that India’s foundations and institutions were being attacked. The Congress leader also suggested that the Opposition would have to break the financial, institutional and constitutional monopoly of the BJP to defeat them.
Banerjee, during her address, said it was important for all parties to ensure support for the Congress wherever the party was the strongest.
During the meeting, RJD chief Lalu Prasad was given a rousing welcome by the Opposition party leaders as he started his speech as the second speaker.
Yadav suggested that for the 2024 general election, the Opposition fight should be led by the biggest party in each state and requested the Congress to be generous in sharing seats.
Bihar Chief Minister, who was the first to speak, said that while 15 Opposition parties were in attendance, at least ten more will be joining the ranks soon.
Kejriwal said for the 2024 election, the motto should be “nation first, party second”. He said when parties give up seats for their Opposition partners, their victory should be a victory for the united front.
Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren (JMM), Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Maharashtra’s former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and NCP president Sharad Pawar were also among the leaders who attended the nearly four-hours-long meeting.