After the first meeting of the Opposition parties to forge a common front against the ruling BJP for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Patna on Friday, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar said that all the leaders have agreed to form a common front to unitedly fight the BJP in the Centre, but one more meeting will be held next month in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh to finalise details.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge further informed that the next meet in Shimla will finalise the modalities of the front.

The meeting in Shimla would tentatively be held on July 10 or 12, which will deliberate the strategy for all states, said Kharge.

“We have to fight the elections together in 2024. We have decided to throw out the BJP and are confident of forming the next government,” Kharge said.

Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK supremo MK Stalin were absent from the joint press conference, though Kumar, who was the host of the big Opposition meeting of 17 parties, claimed they left because they had to catch flights.

According to sources, sharp exchanges between AAP and the Congress were witnessed during the meeting, where the former made it clear that it would be “very difficult” for it to be part of an alliance until the grand old party denounced the Centre’s ordinance in Delhi.

Kharge raised AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar’s allegation that the Congress is not taking a stand because of a deal with the BJP. Ahead of the meeting, Kakkar told PTI that they have come to know from reliable sources that “there is a consensus between Congress and BJP” which is why the Congress is not opposing the ordinance.

After attending the meeting, AAP slammed the Congress, questioning its “silence” on the Centre’s Delhi ordinance. It said the Congress is yet to make its stand clear on the issue. While AAP leaders Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann and Raghav Chadha attended the Opposition’s meeting to devise a strategy for the Lok Sabha 2024 polls, the party in a statement issued later said the Congress during the “like-minded” parties’ meeting refused to publicly “denounce the Black Ordinance” despite many leaders urging it to do so.

“A total of 15 parties are attending the like-minded party meeting in Patna, out of which 12 have representation in the Rajya Sabha. Except for the Indian National Congress, all other 11 parties, which have representation in the Rajya Sabha, have clearly expressed their stand against the Black Ordinance and announced that they would oppose it in the Rajya Sabha,” the party said in the statement.

Also Read

“The Congress, a national party that takes a stand on almost all issues, has yet to make its position on the Black Ordinance public. However, the Congress’ Delhi and Punjab units have announced that the party should support the Modi government on this issue,” the statement added.

Raising the issue of alleged attack on democratic institutions, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that it is a fight of ideologies. “We may have some differences but have decided to work together with flexibility to protect our ideology. This is a process, and we will keep it going,” he said.

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee, too, emphasised that the parties that attended the meeting would fight as one.

“What starts from Patna becomes a jan andolan (public movement),” Banerjee said, referring to the iconic JP movement during the Emergency.