'Meeting Of Opportunists And Power-Hungry Leaders': BJP On Bengaluru Opposition Meet

Top leaders of 26 opposition parties, including the Congress, AAP and TMC, are arriving in Bengaluru to attend the two-day brainstorming session in Bengaluru from Monday to form an alliance to defeat the BJP in 2024 polls.

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday slammed the scheduled meeting of the opposition parties in Bengaluru calling it a "meeting of opportunists and power-hungry" leaders and said that such an alliance will not do any good for the country at present or in the future. Addressing a press conference, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad ridiculed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and said he has gone to attend the opposition parties' meeting in Bengaluru instead of being in the national capital to provide relief to the people affected by the flood.

Prasad also hit out at the Congress alleging that it has not said a word on the Kejriwal government's "mismanagement" during the flood situation in Delhi or on the violence during panchayat polls in West Bengal, where the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC is in power. "Opposition parties' meet in Bengaluru is a meeting of opportunists and power-hungry leaders," Prasad told reporters."Such an alliance is neither good for India's present nor for its future,” he charged.

Top leaders of 26 opposition parties, including the Congress, AAP and TMC, are arriving in Bengaluru to attend the two-day brainstorming session in Bengaluru from Monday and they are likely to start work on a common minimum programme and announce a joint agitational plan to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Among top opposition leaders, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav have already left for Bengaluru on Monday to attend the second meeting of the opposition parties.

Kumar is accompanied by his party JD(U)'s national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh and state Water Resources Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha.

Fifteen parties attended the last meeting for opposition unity hosted by Kumar in Patna on June 23. Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also likely to attend the meeting this time.

Other top leaders expected to attend the meeting include former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, besides former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

According to sources, the leaders are likely to hold discussions on issuing a joint declaration and move forward on their proposal of putting up common opposition candidates in a majority of the Lok Sabha seats. The agenda for the talks would be finalised during discussions before a dinner meeting on Monday evening, they said.

There is a proposal to set up a subcommittee for drafting a common minimum programme and communication points for the Opposition alliance for the 2024 general elections, the sources said, adding there is also a plan to set up a subcommittee for chalking out the joint programme of parties that includes rallies, conventions and agitations.

A plan to discuss the process for deciding seat sharing on a state-to-state basis is also on the table. The opposition leaders may also discuss the issue of EVM and suggest reforms to the Election Commission, the sources said.

The opposition leaders also plan to suggest a name for the alliance.