AMN
The meeting of leaders of 15 opposition parties will be held today in Patna. Senior JD(U) leader and Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar and RJD’s Tejaswi Prasad Yadav initiated the drive last year for consolidating opposition parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections by visiting several states.
Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin, Arvind Kejriwal, and Bhagwant Mann representing Trinamool Congress, DMK, and Aam Adami Party (AAP) reached yesterday for the gathering. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his party president Mallikarjun Kharage will also remain present.
JD(U), RJD, and Congress are at the core of convening this meeting as they are leading the Grand Alliance government in Bihar. Leaders of the Samajwadi Party, NCP, PDP, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, National Conference (J&K), and Shiv Sena (UBT) will also participate in the meeting.
From the left, CPM, CPI, and CPI(ML) will consolidate the opposition unity. The RJD and JD(U) had also experimented with an alliance against BJP during the 2015 Bihar Assembly Elections. But it fell apart within 16 months of the formation of the Grand Alliance government.
Senior BJP leader and Union minister Nityanand Rai have criticised the opposition parties, saying it is a gimmick, and that there was no unanimous leader in this multi-party gathering for upcoming elections.