As Congress leader Rahul Gandhi arrived in Patna on Friday to attend the Opposition joint meeting, along with party president Mallikarjun Kharge, a poster depicting Rahul Gandhi as ‘Devdas in real life’ was put up in front of the BJP party office in Patna.
The poster features actor Shah Rukh Khan, the reel Devdas, and Rahul Gandhi, whom the poster labelled as the “real Devdas”.
“Mamata Didi asked to leave Bengal, Kejriwal asked to leave Delhi and Punjab…that day is not far when everyone will ask Congress (Rahul) to leave politics,” the poster attributed this speech bubble to the former Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad.
“I am stating from this stage, the BJP won’t be visible in Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan. The Congress will win (in all four Assembly elections),” said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Patna.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has always maintained that the Congress should not play ‘big brother’ in the anti-BJP camp and regional parties should have the upper hand where they are strong.
A day before the crucial meeting, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sources said the party will walk out of the meeting if the Congress does not promise its support against the Centre’s ordinance for Delhi.
The Centre had promulgated an ordinance to create an authority for the transfer and posting of Group-A officers in Delhi.
Kejriwal has said that the ordinance was “undemocratic” and an “attack on the federal structure” as it takes away power from an elected government to perform its duties effectively.
Following the ordinance, Delhi CM Kejriwal has been reaching out to leaders of non-BJP parties to garner their support against the ordinance so that the Centre’s bid to replace it through a Bill is defeated when it is tabled in Parliament.
Before leaving for Patna, Kharge said the fight is against BJP and all Opposition parties will unanimously decide on the strategy.
“We all want to fight together against BJP and our agenda is to remove the BJP govt… We will take a decision on this (on supporting AAP against the Centre’s ordinance) before the Parliament session.”
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said that the meeting is to discuss some important issues of the country and decide the future course of action, adding that Manipur will also be discussed.
Opposition leaders from across the country had started arriving in the state capital on Thursday itself — TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee landed at Patna airport along with Abhishek Banerjee; Kejriwal reached the city with AAP Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and senior party leaders Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha; and all the way from Kashmir was PDP leader and former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, reported The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary said he will skip the meet because of a “pre-decided family programme”. JD(U) had also announced that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati was not invited for the meet.
In the last two months, several opposition leaders have met each other to form a unified alliance, with most of the meetings featuring Bihar chief minister and Janata Dal(United) supremo Nitish Kumar.
The meeting on Friday in Patna has been called by Kumar to formalise a strategy to take on the Modi-led BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The agenda of the meeting includes trying to identify common issues, preparing a joint statement, and most importantly, appointing a committee to oversee the formal common minimum programme.
Taking a jibe at the Opposition meet, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Nitish Kumar 2024 ke liye baaraat saja rahe hai Patna mai, baaraat me to dulha bhi hota hai, par is baaraat ka dulha kon hai? (Nitish Kumar is setting the stage for the wedding procession for the 2024 elections in Patna, but who is the groom (PM contender). Everyone is seeing themselves as a PM contender.”
In response, Congress’ Pramod Tiwari said, “Ravi Shankar dulha ki chinta na kare…Hamara dulha taiyar hai, aap baaraat ke swagat ki tayari kro…(Ravi Shankar do not worry about the groom…Our groom is ready, You start your preparations to welcome the wedding procession.) This opposition meeting is to unitedly raise voices to save the democracy,” Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, as quoted by ANI.
Speaking about the 2024 elections BJP’s Sushil Modi said that all those opposition leaders who were accused of corruption have joined hands due to the fear of arrest if Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins a third term in office after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He also added that even RJD with no single seat is standing up against the party with 303 seats.