Regional leaders such as Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy from the YSR Congress, Sukhbir Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal and HD Kumaraswamy from JD-S, have not been invited to a meeting of opposition parties on June 23, according to Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which is one of the main hosts of the summit. JD(U) chief spokesperson K C Tyagi claims that these leaders were not given an invitation as they did not demonstrate a commitment towards fighting against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Tyagi has dismissed the BJP’s claim that these leaders had already disassociated themselves from the meeting.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had visited his Odisha counterpart Patnaik in May this year to seek support in uniting opposition parties against the BJP ahead of the 2024 polls. However, Patnaik had told the media that no discussion was held on any alliances. Similarly, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had met Kumar, his deputy Tejashwi Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad in Patna in August 2020 and given a call for ‘BJP-Mukt Bharat.’ However, KCR did not join Nitish’s campaign to unite opposition parties against the BJP.
