Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar arrived in Patna on Friday to attend a meeting hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, which aims to forge unity among opposition parties for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Pawar stated that the Manipur issue will also be discussed in the meeting, which has been attended by several opposition leaders, including Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary was unable to attend the meeting due to prior commitments, but expressed hopes that the conference would provide an important milestone in the path of opposition unity. Other leaders who arrived in Patna ahead of the meeting include Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti.
Opposition parties selected Patna as the venue for the meeting as it represents the call for total revolution made by Jayaprakash Narayan in 1974, which helped to topple Indira Gandhi’s majority government. Mamata Banerjee also met with RJD patriarch and former Bihar CM Lalu Yadav and his son, state Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, upon her arrival in Patna.
The meeting, aimed at consolidating opposition parties, is critical for the future of Indian politics. While turf wars in states remain a significant challenge, opposition leaders hope to present a united front that can challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
