Oppn unity meet: Will fight polls unitedly, says Nitish; next huddle in Shimla

Opposition leaders from 15 parties, including six chief ministers, attended a unity meeting in Patna, with the exception of the Aam Aadmi Party. They announced they will collectively challenge the Narendra Modi government in the 2024 parliamentary elections. AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann attended the meeting but skipped the press briefing, citing issues over a "black ordinance" from Congress. The next meeting will be held in Shimla on either 10 or 12 July. While disagreements were present, leaders spoke of unity and a shared agenda against the BJP.

Top leaders of 15 parties, among them six chief ministers, attended the keenly awaited Opposition unity meet called by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar in Patna on Friday and all of them, with the exception of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), later announced that they will stay united and collectively challenge the Narendra Modi government in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during a joint press conference in Patna on Friday. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

The two AAP leaders who attended the three-hour-long meeting — Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann — skipped the press briefing held later.

In a statement, AAP said that until the Congress publicly denounces the “black ordinance” and declares that all 31 of its RS MPs will oppose the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha, it will be difficult for AAP to participate in future meetings of like-minded parties where the Congress is a participant.

Opening the press conference, Nitish Kumar described the meeting as “very good”. “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,” he said.

The next meeting has been decided to be held in Shimla, tentatively on July 10 or 12.

Speaking after CM Kumar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “All the Opposition leaders want to fight together on a common agenda. We will meet in Shimla on July 10 or 12 and prepare further. We will be fighting the 2024 elections together to defeat the BJP and we are hopeful we will be successful.”

The unity meeting made a promising start but bickering between AAP and Congress on the Delhi ordinance could not be avoided, according to a leader privy to what transpired at the meeting.

While AAP leaders didn’t walk out of the meeting held at Nitish Kumar’s residence, it skipped the press conference where all other leaders spoke of unity on issues and elections.

A draft joint statement, titled “Collective Resolve”, could not be approved in the meeting though.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was also present at the presser, said, “There is an assault on the foundation of India and on its institutions. This is an ideological war. We may have some differences among ourselves, but we will work together. The opposition unity is a process.”

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was first to suggest Patna as the venue for the big huddle, said, “We had many meetings in Delhi, but none yielded any fruitful result. So, we decided to meet in Patna.”

She hit out at BJP over a number of issues, including alleged misuse of Raj Bhavans as “alternative governments” and how dissenters face raids by central agencies. “If BJP wins again, India will be destroyed,” she said.

Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad, who returned to a political event after a long gap, said the key problem of the Opposition is that it remains divided and the votes are split.

Even as the Congress remain non-committal on the support to AAP on the Delhi ordinance, which seeks to limit the state government’s role in governance, Banerjee declared, “We will fight together against BJP’s laws.”

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said the “meeting has shown us the way”.

PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti said the alleged attack on the democracy and the Constitution started from J&K where the is no elected government for four years.

Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah said the Opposition is “not fighting for power but to save the idea of India”. “Our Prime Minister speaks of democracy in the White House, but why doesn’t this democracy reach J&K?”

CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said BJP is trying to change the secular democratic character of India and added that the united Opposition “will undertake many joint programmes.”

CPI leader D Raja described the current regime as “disastrous and detrimental to interest of India which has led to rise of communal and corporate nexus”.