16 parties confirm participation in Opposition meet on June 12

New Delhi: In a major shot in the arm for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been spearheading to unite Opposition, 16 parties have confirmed their participation in the first meeting, which is scheduled to be held in Patna on June 12.

The ‘congregation’ of like-minded parties is a major political development that would set the stage for discussions and negotiations among opposition leaders.

However, Congress — the principal opposition party – has also confirmed its participation for the meeting. Confirming about the participation, Congress general secretary communications in-charge Jairam Ramesh said, “We are participating in June 12 opposition meeting and who will go will depend on the availability of senior leaders.”

The first opposition meeting to discuss the electoral strategy against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for June 12.

However, there are indications that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Rahul Gandhi may not attend due to scheduling conflicts. Despite the absence of key Congress leaders, several prominent opposition parties have confirmed their participation as the objective of the meeting is to explore the possibility of fielding a common candidate against the BJP in each Lok Sabha constituency.

Citing the need to accommodate everyone’s schedules, Congress as well as DMK had requested a postponement of the meeting to June 23. However, it was ultimately decided to proceed with the original date due to the difficulty in finding a convenient alternative.

Besides Congress, several prominent opposition leaders like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) patriarch Sharad Pawar, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, CPI leader D Raja, former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav are among those expected to attend.

There are speculations that senior party leader Rahul Gandhi may join the meeting after returning from his USA tour.

The confirmation of 16 parties for the first meeting of like-minded parties is the outcome of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar who has been spearheading the campaign to unite all the like-minded parties to forge an alliance against the BJP-led NDA for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.