Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, will hold a conference of opposition parties at his official house today. This gathering is intended to set the tone for the much-hyped “Opposition unity” to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha elections that will take place next year.
Agenda of the Meeting
One of the largest meetings of its sort in recent years, the summit in Patna brings together 18 opposition parties, having particular significance given the next general elections are only nine months away. Banerjee, when meeting Nitish Kumar in April in Kolkata, brought up the memory of Jayaprakash Narayan and suggested that opposition leaders should have a joint meeting in Patna.
The meeting is expected to begin by 11:30am in the morning. The meeting to be held at the Chief Minister’s official residence where the opposition leaders are set to address a wide range of topics, from the violence in Manipur to the protest by wrestlers and the ordinance passed by the Centre in Delhi. The purpose of the gathering is to set the tone for productive dialogue amongst the opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Reports indicate that Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi and national coordinator of the AAP, warned to skip the meeting if Congress would not commit to standing with the party in opposition to the ordinance passed by the Central government. Kejriwal had previously hoped that Congress would clarify its position on the subject, since he has been battling for the government’s control over administrative services in Delhi after Centre took away the authority.
Arrival of the leaders
Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Tamil Nadu CM Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena (Udhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Udhav Thackeray, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti and Left party leaders will attend the meeting.
Mayawati, leader of the BSP, hit an uneasy note on Thursday, saying that the meeting was more about linking hands than hearts, and that their “attitude” did not appear “serious” about taking Uttar Pradesh, a key state in their ambitions. In light of the now-refuted rumours that the BSP is eager to reach an agreement with the Opposition, she spoke up despite not being invited to the meeting. Yet, according to the opposition leaders, the BSP has “made it clear that the party will not be part of any alliance” and has never participated in the unified Opposition plans. Mayawati criticised the Patna event on Twitter, arguing that the parties should have sought to reassure voters by declaring their intentions upfront. The woman said, “How long will ‘Muh me Ram bagal mein churi’ (speaking praise on face and stabbing in back) last?”
In a dig at the opposition leaders who would be present at the meeting today in Patna, BJP leader Jivesh Mishra stated that they are just coming together to tackle their own problems. He said that the attendees of Friday’s meeting should first choose who among themselves would be the Prime Ministerial Candidate. Earlier this week, former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Mr. Sushil Modi also gave this opinion saying that, “Sitting together for tea does not mean opposition is united”.
