With Rahul's Presence, Key Opposition Meet In Patna Against BJP To Bring Old Rivals Together

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday announced that its president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi will attend a meeting of opposition leaders in Patna on June 23, and asserted that "we will succeed in defeating the divisive forces in power". The Congress' assertion came after Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav announced in Patna that a meeting of opposition parties, organised by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will be held in Patna on June 23.

Addressing a press conference with JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh by his side, Yadav said that top leaders of most opposition parties, including Kharge, Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal have agreed to attend the meeting.

In a tweet, Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said, "INC President Sh. Mallikarjun Kharge ji and Sh. Rahul Gandhi ji will be attending the joint opposition leaders' meeting on June 23 in Patna." "We believe that our unity and commitment to the purpose of defending democracy is the need of the hour and we will succeed in defeating the divisive forces in power today," Venugopal said.

The meeting of opposition parties was earlier scheduled to be held on June 12, but was put off after some of them, including the Congress and the DMK, requested a change of date.

Nitish Kumar had recently said he was opposed to parties sending any leader except their respective heads to the meeting where the anti-BJP players will chalk out a strategy for the Lok Sabha polls next year.