Janta Dal (United) President Lalan Singh on Wednesday confirmed that the meeting of top Opposition leaders, convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be held in Patna on June 23.
The meeting, which is aimed at laying the groundwork for the coming together of like-minded Opposition parties against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government at the Centre, was originally scheduled to be held on June 12. However, the meeting was pushed back after several Opposition leaders, including Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, expressed their inability to attend the meeting on June 12, citing prior engagements and preoccupations.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Lalan Singh said, “The meeting will be attended by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, and Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin.”
“Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI General Secretary D Raja, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Dipankar Bhattacharya will also attend the meeting,” he added.
After JDU had announced the meeting of Opposition parties on June 12, earlier, DMK chief Stalin said he had sought a postponement of the June 12 meeting, as he would be busy attending an inaugural ceremony on the same date.
“I will be attending the inaugural ceremony of Mettur Dam on the same date (as the Opposition meeting). It is an important event. Even the Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) will be held up at a different event and won’t be able to attend the meeting on that day. So, I have asked for the meeting of Opposition parties to be pushed back. However, the DMK will surely participate in the meeting,” Tamil Nadu CM Stalin said.
The Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been spearheading efforts to bring all Opposition parties together against the BJP government at the Centre, with an eye on next year’s Lok Sabha polls.
As part of the effort to galvanise the Opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, he has already met the likes of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar
