Leaders of 26 political parties from across India will huddle together at the second conclave of the united Opposition in Bengaluru on Tuesday to forge an electoral alliance against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Leaders of 15 parties attended the last Opposition meeting held in Bihar’s capital Patna on June 23.
Ahead of the meeting, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hosted a dinner for leaders of Opposition parties at Taj West End Hotel in Bengaluru on Monday.
Editorial | Tenets of unity: On the Opposition meet in Patna
More than 50 leaders from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Shiv Sena (UBT), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), J&K National Conference, Communist parties CPI and CPI(M), Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), and Kerala Congress attended the dinner meeting.
Who’s who of opposition
Prominent leaders who attended the dinner meeting included Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashvi Yadav, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, former Jammu and Kashmir CMs Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah, former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav, CPI general secretary D. Raja and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar did not attend the dinner meeting. However, the veteran leader is expected to be present on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said the unity of non-NDA parties would be a “game-changer” in the Indian political scenario and they would discuss a common agenda to defeat the BJP in the next general election.
He termed the meeting in Patna as successful and fruitful. “After the Patna meeting, those who felt that they could defeat the entire Opposition alone, have also started meeting,” he said hinting at the meeting of NDA partners on Tuesday convened by the BJP. “That is the real success of Opposition unity,” Mr. Venugopal said.
“We will decide in this meeting the course of action for the future. Secondly, the Parliament session is also starting from July 28. We will chalk out the Parliament strategy also,” Mr. Venugopal said.
“Opposition parties are coming together not just to secure power but to address the genuine concerns of the world’s biggest democracy that are being ignored by the [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi regime. The country has been under distress owing to unemployment and price rise,” he said.
“The parties are united by a common purpose to protect democracy, ensure constitutional rights and maintain independence of institutions which are under attack in the present BJP government,” the Congress leader said.
He said the issues to be discussed in the meeting would be decided by all Opposition parties and not the Congress alone.
Asked about the Lok Sabha election strategy and the proposed move of putting up a single Opposition candidate against each BJP candidate, Mr. Venugopal said these were issues that would be discussed in the meeting.
More meetings to follow
“It will not happen in one or two meetings. It will take one, two, three, or more meetings,” Mr. Venugopal said, making it clear that the Bengaluru meeting is going to be followed by more such meetings to firm up Opposition unity against the BJP. On the leadership issue in the Opposition, he said, “We have enough leaders.”
While noting that non-United Progressive Alliance (UPA) parties are also part of the Opposition unity initiative, Mr. Venugopal said whether a new name was needed for the proposed front would also be discussed on Tuesday.
Asked about inviting parties who are not part of the BJP-led NDA but are keeping distance from the Congress, he said those who believed in secularism and were against the dictatorial rule of the BJP were welcome to join the Opposition front.
“The Modi government wants to silence Opposition voices by misusing probe agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Gandhi’s disqualification from Parliament and the recent split of NCP in Maharashtra are biggest examples of suppression of the voice of the Opposition,” he said.
The meeting on Tuesday would start at 11 a.m. and end at 4 p.m., Congress leaders said.
