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Anti-BJP unity meet in Patna on June 23; big names agree to attend
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been spearheading efforts to forge a united front to challenge the BJP, his party JD(U)’s ally till August last year when he broke ranks and aligned with RJD, Congress and other parties to form a new government in the state.
The keenly anticipated meeting of anti-BJP leaders from across the country, which was scheduled in Patna for June 12 but was deferred two days back, will now be held in Bihar’s capital on June 23 and will be attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, leaders of the ruling alliance in the state announced on Wednesday.
In a hurriedly called press conference in the evening, Janata Dal (United)’s national president Rajiv Rajan Singh alias Lalan Singh and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said the meeting called to forge a united front to challenge the ruling BJP in the 2024 parliamentary polls will be held in Patna on June 23.
Singh said Rahul Gandhi, who is currently on a 10-day US tour, has given his consent to attend the meeting along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
He said other top leaders in attendance will be West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, DMK chief and Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin and top Left party leaders, including Sitaram Yechury of CPM, D Raja of CPI and Dipankar Bhattacharya of CPI-ML(Liberation).
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been spearheading efforts to forge a united front to challenge the BJP, his party JD(U)’s ally till August last year when he broke ranks and aligned with RJD, Congress and other parties to form a new government in the state.
Over the past few months, Kumar has flown to various state capitals and the national capital, calling on top Congress leaders and regional satraps as part of his campaign.
Earlier in the day, JD(U)’s chief spokesperson K C Tyagi had said that “everybody joining the proposed front has to make sacrifices in terms of seat sharing”. He was responding to speculation that Congress was insistent on fighting at least 350 Lok Sabha seats in the next year’s general election.
