Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has confirmed that the chief of his party, Uddhav Thackeray, along with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will attend the meeting of non-BJP parties in Patna on June 12. He also agreed with senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on fielding a common candidate on 400 to 450 seats against the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“What Chidambaram had said is true. There are around 450 seats where if one-to-one (common) candidates are fielded (against the BJP) then the entire verdict on the country's politics will change,” Raut told news agency ANI, adding the decision on this will be made on June 12 in the meeting.
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On Monday, Chidambaram said the work to bring non-BJP parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election was going on and there is a possibility to field common candidates on at least 400 to 450 seats against the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}On Monday, Chidambaram said the work to bring non-BJP parties together ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election was going on and there is a possibility to field common candidates on at least 400 to 450 seats against the BJP.
{{/usCountry}}“Our party [Congress] line is that all the non-BJP parties must get together as far as possible. If they come together, then it is possible that on 400 to 450 seats, we can field one common candidate against the BJP but that is still a desire; an aspiration,” the former Union minister had said. He added that the opposition is beginning to realise the ‘necessity to unite and put up a united opposition front against the BJP’.
The scheduled meeting is a result of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's attempts to present a unified non-BJP front ahead of the upcoming general elections. He had held talks with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi to discuss a broad strategy and prepare the ground for the June 12 meeting.
At least 18 parties were expected to attend the Patna meeting. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee suggested the meeting when she met Kumar in April. Banerjee, who has also backed Kumar’s “One-On-One” candidate strategy, invoked socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan’s “Total Revolution” movement against the Congress government in the 1970s while suggesting the meeting in Patna.