Amid AAP-Cong tension over Delhi ordinance and BJP's 'dulhan' jabs, opposition holds big Patna unity meet
Opposition meeting in Patna will be hosted by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and look to generate consensus for unity to take on the BJP in the 2024 poll.
Opposition leaders from across the country gathered in Patna today to explore the possibility of a united front to challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in next year's general election. The meeting - hosted by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar - began at 11.30 am with 32 political leaders in attendance.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar are among those attending, as are Tamil Nadu chief minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader MK Stalin and Bengal chief minister and Trinamool boss Mamata Banerjee.
READ | Key Oppn meet for roadmap for LS polls: Check who all are attending
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah and the People's Democratic Party's Mehbooba Mufti, both ex-chief ministers of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, are also present. Members of several Left parties are also in Patna.
LIVE COVERAGE | Opposition's grand unity meet in Patna for 2024 LS polls
In total 15 opposition parties are in the Bihar capital today; this does not include Telangana's ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi, which faces an election this year, Andhra Pradesh's ruling YSR Congress and Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal, as well as Karnataka's Janata Dal (Secular).
Why is this meeting important?
This is the first time a number of parties that have been at loggerheads with the Congress in the past will huddle together. It will look to set the tone for (a hopefully) united opposition's gameplan for the 2024 election.
Among the many points that will be discussed is a seat-sharing formula based on the performance of each party over the past three elections.
READ | JD(U), RJD propose seat-sharing based on last three poll results
AAP the lynchpin?
Ahead of the meeting, though, all eyes were on the Aam Aadmi Party of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, which reportedly threatened to walk out if the Congress does not support its fight against an ordinance granting the centre control over posting of bureaucrats in the national capital.
Sources had told Hindustan Times Kejriwal may object if the Congress remains non-committal - as it has so far - and that this could derail the prospect of opposition unity.
Will AAP actually walk out?
Priyanka Kakkar, the party's chief spokesperson, said Thursday she had no information on this topic and that 'our top leadership will attend... it (the walkout) will be their decision'.
The AAP leader also accused the Congress of a deal with the BJP - that it will walkout when the ordinance is tabled in the Rajya Sabha, lowering the threshold needed to pass it.
What is the ordinance?
Promulgated by president Droupadi Murmu last month, the ordinance was introduced by the BJP government to negate a Supreme Court order granting Delhi's elected government to make laws and control 'services' in the city.
The ordinance set up an administrative authority of the chief minister and two bureaucrats and said all decisions had to be by majority votes.
READ | Delhi services ordinance renders elected govt redundant: Kejriwal
Kejriwal has actively sought non-BJP parties' backing to defeat the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha - the only possible option given the BJP's strength in the Lok Sabha. He has been promised support by several, including the Trinamool and the NCP, but not by the Congress.
What will the Congress do?
The Congress will not take kindly to being pressured into supporting Kejriwal. Senior leaders indicated to Hindustan Times the party has no obligation to back the AAP and that the Patna meeting had bigger fish to fry - defeating the BJP.
"We all want to fight together against the BJP... our agenda is to remove the BJP government," Congress boss Kharge said earlier today, "We will take a decision on this (supporting AAP) before the (monsoon) session of Parliament."
What is the BJP saying?
A less-than-impressed BJP has claimed it sees no threat in this meeting. Rajya Sabh MP and ex Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Modi - once seen as Nitish Kumar's right hand man - declared the meet to be a 'wedding procession in which everyone is a groom...'
"Nitish ji ne aisi baraat lagaai hai, jisme sab dulhe hain (Nitish ji has made such a baraat in which everyone is a groom... there are no guests)," Modi said and pointed to AAP's 'threat'.
READ | Opposition unlikely to ink common minimum programme in Patna
"Everyone is busy making others accept their conditions... Kejriwal has threatened he will not attend the meeting until the Congress announces cooperation on the ordinance issue..."
Sushil Modi also cast doubts over seat-sharing plans for next year's Lok Sabha election and said he did not see the AAP and the Congress as viable allies.
Former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also hit out with a 'dulhan' jibe, telling reporters, "Nitish Kumar is decorating the wedding procession for the 2024 election in Patna… but who is the groom (prime ministerial face)?"
What do other opposition leaders say?
Not all opposition leaders will be in Patna; ex Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati will not and offered sarcastic digs, declaring the meeting 'was more like joining hands, not hearts'.
READ | 'Muh mein Ram, bagal mein…': Mayawati on opposition's Patna meet
"Before any such meeting... it would have been better if these parties had come clean on their intentions. How long will 'moonh mein Ram, bagal mein chhuri' last?" she said, referring to a Hindi proverb about fake praise.
