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Akhilesh Yadav to meet Mamata Banerjee as opposition looks to bring 8 parties on board
The leaders of these parties wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 5 against what they saw as the ‘blatant misuse’ of central agencies, to work in unison. The Congress, which was not a signatory to the letter, does not figure in the plans.
A group of opposition leaders is scrambling to get the eight Opposition parties whose leaders wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 5 against what they saw as the blatant misuse of central agencies, to work in unison.
The Congress does not figure in these plans, which, if they come to fruition could see the emergence of a united grouping ahead of next year’s national elections, although, currently, the aim is to take on the BJP in key issues.
The March 5 letter cited the case against Delhi’s former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.
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As a part of the plan, Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will travel to Kolkata on March 17 to meet West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee—another leader keen to develop a regional parties-based front—to discuss the way ahead. One opposition leader working to get the grouping going said that a meeting of the eight parties is being scheduled during the ongoing budget session in Delhi. “It will be scheduled after taking consent of leaders of all eight parties,” added this person who asked not to be named.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party, his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao of BRS, Bihar deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav of RJD, former CMs Yadav of SP, Sharad Pawar of NCP, Farooq Abdullah NC and Uddav Thackeray of the Uddhav Balasahed Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena , will be invited for the meeting to evolve a common strategy for the 2024 election, the leader said.
A senior Trinamool leader argued that the Congress has been kept out of this formation as its electoral strategy doesn’t fit with the regional parties’ plans. “We want others to rally behind the dominant anti-BJP power in a state. But look at West Bengal -- the Congress and Left tied up to against Trinamool in the last assembly election.”
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A third opposition leader pointed out that many of these parties, such as AAP or BRS, are fighting against the Congress in their respective states. “We also want to invite Shiromani Akali Dal and DMK,” added this person. DMK, in power in Tamil Nadu, is however a staunch ally of the Congress.
The third leader added that these eight parties will also take on the BJP on common issues or back each other on vital issues for their respective states. “On Tuesday, NC leader Farooq Abdullah discussed the possibility of these eight parties coming together to demand assembly elections in J&K.”
HT learns that the grouping-in-the-making could approach the Election Commission of India to demand polls in J&K.
In their letter to the PM on March 5, the opposition leaders said, “The blatant misuse of central agencies against the members of the opposition appears to suggest that we have transitioned from being a democracy to an autocracy...Sisodia is recognised globally for transforming Delhi’s school education. His arrest will be cited worldwide as an example of a political witch-hunt and further confirm what the world was only suspecting – that India’s democratic values stand threatened under an authoritarian BJP regime.”
Former Delhi deputy CM Manish Sisodia was arrested by CBI on February 26 over his involvement in formulating a liquor excise policy (since scrapped) that . allegedly benefited a few companies.
