Prominent opposition leaders will arrive in Bengaluru on Monday for a two-day mega meeting as parties try to chalk out a joint strategy to unitedly counter the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The session is being held in the backdrop of the Ajit Pawar-led faction joining the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government and the split in the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) following widespread violence in the West Bengal panchayat polls.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), NCP, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal (United) (JDU) are among the major parties that will attend the session to be chaired by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
The last meeting held by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on June 23 was attended by 15 parties, while in the second meeting, top leaders of 26 opposition parties are likely to attend a two-day brainstorming session in Bengaluru.
The two-day session will begin today with a dinner meeting hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and another formal meeting on Tuesday after which they are likely to finalise their plans and announce their next course of action in forming a joint bloc.
In their first meeting in Patna, the parties resolved to unitedly take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, differences emerged as the Congress did not give any assurance on the Delhi ordinance controversy. However, before the second meeting, the country’s oldest party announced its support in fighting the central ordinance on Delhi services and soon after, the Aam Aadmi Party confirmed that it would participate in the second deliberations aimed at ensuring a united opposition bloc for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The AAP welcomed the Congress’ decision to oppose the Centre’s ordinance on control of administrative services in Delhi in Parliament. The AAP had earlier said it would attend the meeting in Bengaluru only if the Congress extended its support to the AAP in opposing the Delhi ordinance in Parliament.
These include Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayant Singh, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Besides them, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, JMM leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren are also expected to attend the meeting.
Sources said Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Kongu Desa Makkal Katchi (KDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), All India Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph) and Kerala Congress (Mani) are among the new political parties that will attend the meeting.
In an interview with news agency PTI, former Union minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram asserted that many objectives of the opposition parties are similar as they are against the social and economic policies of the Modi government. He said the parties were concerned about slow economic growth, high inflation and rising unemployment as well as curtailment of civil liberties, suppression of media and misuse of investigative agencies.
They are concerned about the security situation at the borders. Chidambaram said these shared concerns have brought them together to oppose the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
BJP chief Nadda calls it ‘dynasty preservation alliance’
Addressing a rally in Rajasthan, BJP chief JP Nadda attacked opposition parties, saying these days parties have started an alliance which he called “protection of dynasties”. “A new scam that is being committed by the opposition nowadays is the PDA i.e. Patriotic Democratic Alliance, whereas I call the PDA a Dynasty Protection Alliance i.e. it is a way to save nepotism,” Nadda said.
“This is a way to save dynastic politics. All these people join the alliance to save their family while Modi works to take the country forward. We need to understand this difference.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks, BJP national spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said the Congress and other opposition parties were fighting for their survival, to secure their future and not for the country. “As PM Modi said, opposition parties are fighting for their survival and securing the future of their children, not for the country.
After a four-hour meeting of the opposition on June 23, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had said that “there were very positive talks”. “We have decided to fight (Lok Sabha polls) together. There will be another meeting of all (opposition) parties to decide the next course of action. Almost everything will be finalised in the meeting. Mallikarjun Kharge will chair the meeting early next month.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi termed it a “battle of ideologies” and said, “Of course, we will have differences but we have decided to work together and protect the ideologies shared by us.’
