Bengaluru: Addressing the second day conclave of the Opposition unity in Bengaluru, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that his party was not interested in either power or the Prime Ministerial post.
In his inaugural address, Kharge said, "Our intention in this meeting is not to gain power for ourselves. It is to protect our Constitution, democracy, secularism and social justice".
He added, “We’re aware of differences between some of us at state level; these are not ideological” and that they were not so great that they couldn’t be put aside for the “sake of the people”.
This is the first time Congress has accepted that it is open to sharing power.
He said 26 parties are here together, and in government in 11 states today. "The BJP did not get 303 seats by itself. It used the votes of its allies and came to power and then discarded them. Today, the BJP president and its leaders are running from state to state to patch up with their old allies," he said.
With a common objective to defeat BJP in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls, 26 Opposition parties congregated here as a show of strength to deliberate on the issues including EVM machines, Lok Sabha seat sharing, drafting of a Common Minimum programme including the name of the united front. (with Agency inputs)
