New Delhi: Leaders of 15 opposition parties will attend a meeting in Patna on 23 June to shore up strategy for the general elections next year, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said Thursday.
The main leader of these parties would attend the meeting, and not just a representative, Yadav said, adding the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party “was afraid of 2024”.
Yadav, however, could not confirm the presence of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao.
In the last few months, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav have travelled to states and met leaders in a bid to stitch together a pre-poll alliance.
Kumar, who was with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance earlier, joined the opposition’s Grand Alliance last August to form the Bihar government. He became chief minister of the state for a record eighth time.
The meeting – set for 12 June — was pushed back after several leaders, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, said they had prior engagements.
Janata Dal (United) National President Lalan Singh said Wednesday that Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav, Hemant Soren, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, M.K. Stalin, Arvind Kejriwal, D. Raja, Sitaram Yechury and Dipankar Bhattacharya would attend the meet.
Sharad Pawar said there was a need to work keeping national issues in mind. “It is necessary for us to support this initiative,” Pawar said Thursday.
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