Oppn takes key unity step amid AAP-Cong fissures

Thirty-two leaders from 15 Opposition parties came together at a mega meeting in Patna on Friday and all but one outfit vowed to jointly take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and forge a common agenda, marking a significant political development ahead of the 2024 general elections.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

The chief ministers of Delhi and Punjab, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, attended the event with the former saying “nation first, party later”, but the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) struck a discordant note later, and said it will be difficult for the party to attend future meetings if the Congress didn’t make its stance clear on a controversial ordinance that gave the Centre control over Delhi’s bureaucracy.

Leaders from parties — who control 210 seats in Parliament and control 11 states — attended the three-hour-long meeting at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s residence. At a joint press conference later, Kumar said that the meeting was fruitful.

“We have arrived at a consensus on going forward together and on fighting elections together. In the next meeting, we will decide how the parties will fight from their strongholds,” the Bihar chief minister added.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge echoed his sentiment. “All the Opposition leaders want to fight together on a common agenda. We will meet in Shimla on July 10 or 12 and prepare it. We will be fighting the 2024 election together to defeat the BJP and we are hopeful that we will be successful,” he said.

Kejriwal and Mann skipped the press conference.

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, who tweeted, “the war cry of a united opposition is from here, the land of social justice, to end this fascist, autocratic regime and allow the rebirth of a secular, democratic India”, also didn’t attend the presser.