Opposition Parties Satisfied With Patna Meeting, But Why Did AAP Skip Press Conference?

Patna: Leaders of 17 Opposition parties, included quite a few who are at loggerheads in their respective states, met here on Friday and resolved to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly to defeat the BJP.

Acknowledging the importance of setting aside their differences, all parties expressed their views and agreed to work with flexibility with the common goal of toppling the Narendra Modi-led government after 10 years.

The deliberations, which lasted almost four hours, decided that the next meeting will be held in Shimla on July 10 or 12.

The leaders addressed a joint press conference following the meeting where Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, today’s host, said the leaders were satisfied with the outcome and will give final shape to their plan of fighting together at the next meeting.

Striking a discordant note, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the press conference though Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann attended the meeting in person.

In a statement following the meeting, AAP hit out at the Congress for not opposing the Central government’s “black Ordinance”, saying that the grand old party’s “silence raises suspicions about its real intentions”.

In a statement, AAP said that it’s “high time that Congress decides whether it stands with the people of Delhi or the Modi government.”

Significantly, the statement further said that until Congress “publicly denounces” the black Ordinance, it will be “difficult for AAP to participate in future meetings of like-minded parties where the Congress is a participant.”

AAP had threatened to boycott the Opposition parties’ meeting unless Congress announced that it would vote against the Delhi Ordinance in Rajya Sabha.

But despite Congress not making its stand clear, Kejriwal and Mann did turn up in Patna for the crucial meeting. However, AAP made a statement once they saw the grand old party continued to dither on the Ordinance issue during the meeting.