Patna: A consultative meeting was held in Bihar capital Patna in which leaders of 17 parties including Nitish Kumar, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, M.K.Stalin participated. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that all the opposition parties have agreed to face the elections together against the BJP.
The first meeting of opposition leaders was held yesterday in Patna, the capital of Bihar, to discuss how to work together against the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. Bihar Chief Minister and United Janata Dal leader Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav had made arrangements for this.
In this, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin, Nationalist Congress President Sarath Pawar, PDP Party President Meghbooba Mufti, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant. Soran, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Team) chief Uddhav Thackeray were present. The meeting lasted for about 4 hours.
Issue by AAP: Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal suddenly questioned the Congress party’s stand on the issue of emergency law in which Delhi administrative services were brought under control while this was considered as a meeting to show the unity of the opposition parties.
Responding to this, Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge accused Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Priyanka Kakar of saying that the Congress did not oppose the Ordinance because there was a consensus between the BJP and the Congress on the Delhi Ordinance. This led to a clash between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party in the very first meeting of the opposition leaders. After the meeting, the leaders told reporters:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar: The opposition parties have agreed to contest the elections together against the BJP. The details will be finalized in a meeting to be held next month in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. Then the matters related to block allocation will also be finalised.
Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge: We should fight the Lok Sabha elections together. Strategies for all states will be discussed in detail in the meeting on July 10 or 12.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi: It is a struggle for principles. There may be some differences between us. But we have decided to work together to defend our principle.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee: The meeting of opposition leaders that started in Patna has turned into a people’s movement. It was the JP led by Jayaprakash Narayan who emerged from Bihar during the Emergency. Like movement. BJP wants history to change. But history will be preserved by the beginnings in Bihar. We must save our people. If necessary, we will shed blood. Thus they said.
